Fearful Symmetry : An HtLjXwp crossover fic by Ri
by Gabrielle Baer
Summary: Following a tragedy, Hercules and his remaining friends are astonished to learn the gods, Artemis in particular have a challenge for them to face. This story was written in response to the 5th season HtLj 'Dahak' story arc.
1. Chapter 1

Fearful Symmetry

         "What immortal hand or eye has shaped thy fearful symmetry?"

                                                                             William Blake

an alternative HTLJ-XWP tale                      by Rielle aka Caitrin Baer

Disclaimers:

Gabrielle and Iolaus, Hercules and Xena, Iphicles, and Jason, and some other characters as depicted here are the sole property of Pacific Renaissance Pictures and MCA Universal. No infringement of their copyright is intended by this work of fiction. In other words, I am playing in their backyard and I am not making or seeking to make any profit from doing so.

The priestess  Ariella, resident of Corinth during the reign of King Iphicles, however is the sole property and invention of this author, and may not be used elsewhere without my express permission.

Lastly, the possibility exists that within the context of this work of fiction, adult sexual relationships will be discussed that are nonconsensual in nature, and consensual, adult sexual relationships will be presented or discussed as existing between members of opposite genders and members of the same gender. Those who would be offended by such matters, or those under the age of 18 are asked not to read further.

Part One:

She looked into the deep, dark pool that this shrine to Artemis was built around in ages past. Nothing showed there now, except for the cool, quiet water. Not even the thin crescent of the Huntress' moon still glimmered on the surface. The moon had set. The sky above was paling towards dawn.

The vision was gone.

Except, Ariella found, the vision remained alive in her memory, echoing like a fading dream. She fervently wished it was only a dream, a nightmare. It had been too clear, too vivid, and much too coherent to fit those convenient explanations. Experience told her that all the wishing in the world would not change what she'd seen. Only those involved could do that, as people rarely understood, and still more rarely acted on. 

"Goddess," she whispered. "only those involved in this vision can change what you've shown me, or let happen what you've shown me. I know none of them, and none of them know me. How can I bring this vision to them? How can I convince people I've never met? And why, why are you giving me the task of telling them?"

Sitting back from the pool, Ariella considered . "Something's missing here." Ariella whispered to herself, not wishing to disturb anyone else who might be in the temple precincts. "There's something or someone I didn't see that holds the answer to this vision."

She stood up, away from the pool, knowing her mind was too tired to try again this morning. All she saw in the reflective waters now was her own moon pale face, crowned with auburn hair gathered and bound by intricate small braids, lit by gray-green eyes. Shaking her head, Ariella deliberately turned her mind from visions and dreams. Dwelling on them now would only confuse her later attempts at understanding. 

As trained since she first entered temple service, Ariella gave thanks to the Goddess. Then she carefully cleansed the area, removed her tools and the remainders of her ritual work. Lastly she went inside the temple and bathed from top to toe, as she had before beginning the rite. Then, according to her training, she broke her ritual fast and sought a few hours rest. Taking a scroll she hadn't looked at since it came to the temple library, Ariella reclined, started to read, and fell sound asleep.

When she woke, Helios was climbing the sky at his mid morning pitch. Laughing at herself, Ariella decided she'd better take care of the errands she'd planned for earlier in the day, before she did anything else. Walking at a comfortable pace, she met people coming and going from Corinth's central market. The priestess could have sent a novice or a servant from the temple on her errands. She preferred getting out and seeing what was to be seen herself.

Corinth's seaport gave it a justly famous marketplace. Beautiful things, and exotic imports from all across Greece and the known world, were shipped here. Corinth in turn sent the world her uniquely beautiful pottery and other exports. This trade kept the central market a lively, busy place most hours of the day. However, Ariella considered, the people who came and went with the imports and exports were the most interesting sights by far. Amidst the exchange of weavings and pottery, parchment scrolls and other tanner's work, they provided the most interesting exchange of all; rumor, speculation,

and sometimes, actual news.

"Hercules is coming home!" Ariella heard one vendor excitedly tell another.

"Hercules?" asked the second seller of goods, "Are you sure? He's been gone half a year or more."

"Why was Hercules away so long?" a youth, looking at the knives a smith was beating into shape over a bed of glowing coals.

"No one seems to know." his companion answered, examining the swords that hung from the smith's wagon. "Anyway, I haven't heard a word."

"Surely the king will declare festival for his brother's return after such a long absence." A third merchant cried happily.

"A festival?" a handful of girls at the third booth Ariella passed was asking.

"When is the festival?

 How soon?"

"Probably as soon as Hercules comes home, silly!" one of them teased another, laughing.

But while she examined a vase in the next vendor's booth, and some handmade sistra in another, and some scrolls of sacred poetry at another; Ariella couldn't shake off a certain restlessness. She stopped and sat and closed her eyes for a moment, and part of the last night's vision swept across her mind. And for some reason, again, she heard the name of Hercules.

Hercules Ariella thought, wonderingly. Seeking inward again, the priestess tried to see more clearly. Lady, what's Hercules to do with what I saw?

As clear an answer as she'd ever known while fully, normally conscious came to Ariella from a source she inexplicably knew was her goddess' voice whispering: "To fulfill the ritual; the son of Zeus has no choice. With my queen alone a dark door was opened. With my queen alone, can it be closed.

"With my queen?" Ariella echoed aloud. "To fulfill the ritual? Goddess, if only I understood . . "

As if in response, a rush of strange images flowed through the priestess' mind. Places and people she'd never seen before, in torment, in joy, in terror and in mourning crowded her inward senses as a festival day did the marketplace in Corinth.

Shaking and breathing hard, Ariella found that her vision had driven her to the wharf, along with the end of market day crowd. A great ship was in the harbor. A strange ship with markings such as she'd never seen before. Well, you're not exactly a world traveler. she smiled at herself. But as soon as Ariella saw the people disembarking from that foreign ship with the huge eye on the front, she knew why she'd allowed the press of the market crowd to carry her here.

 A male figure far taller and stronger than any around him was striding down a gangplank. He was followed by two women who the priestess considered must be from foreign lands.  One of the women wore a costume of the strangest weavings Ariella had ever seen, lines of color in her brief skirt and shawl making patterns never seen in Corinth or anywhere in Greece. The second woman wore armor as if she'd been born in it, armor that held the same bronze sheen as her limbs and face. It didn't matter that Ariella knew neither one of these women. Like the rest of the excited crowd of Corinthians, she recognized the tall, strong, sad faced man. Like the rest of the crowd she gladly greeted the hero, calling his name:  "Hercules!"

Like any other of Artemis' priestesses, Ariella, would normally avoid direct contacts with men, any men, no matter how heroic or famous for helping people they might be. To communicate with any man in the city, she would normally send one of the guards from Artemis' temple, or if the person she sought lived further away, a messenger bird. Such was her training and her inclination. Today, Ariella felt such urgency about her message that she ignored both.

"Hercules!" she called out, using the breathing and projecting skills from her ritual training. "Hercules!" Normally she would employ these to get the attention of a room full of giggling, distracted acolytes. When trying to teach them the difference between herbs that would help a woman deliver a child, and those that might keep her from conceiving, it was very helpful. Today, she needed the attention of only one person, but he was a demigod. That thought in itself stopped Ariella's voice in her throat and her foot in mid-step. But the vision touched her mind's eye again and she went on. 

Within a yard or two of the gangplank, with dozens of people still between her and the newcomers, Ariella pushed her way forward. The three travelers were being greeted by people the priestess did not recognize. Hercules had been away for months, and his family was no doubt here to greet him. Normally Ariella wouldn't think of intervening in such a reunion. But today she was feeling more and more urgency and again, she called out.

"Hercules, son of Alcmene, son of  Zeus! Artemis sends me with a message for you!"

Taking another step, Ariella saw that her persistence was rewarded, the man she called out to turned in her direction. His eyes remained sad, as if the sorrow they knew would never be gone; but his expression became curious.

Not many in Corinth are going to greet him that formally, are they? she laughed at herself. He probably already thinks some madwoman is standing here yelling nonsense at him. And he hasn't heard the message yet! Goddess, he _is_ coming this way!

Ariella took one more step, and immediately wished she'd stayed put. As in her least favorite nightmare she found nothing but empty air where solid ground was supposed to be. With limbs flailing and skirts flying, she stumbled and fell, flat on her face on the next level of the wharf. Unhurt, except for a wave of embarrassment, the priestess started to pick herself up.

Pushing up with hands and elbows and knees, she saw a dozen different pairs of boot shod feet move towards her and then back. Then she saw a pair of feet shod in many layered, heavily laced boots below woven leather pants and felt a pair of very strong hands supporting her arms.

"Are you all right?" a clear, deep voice asked from high above her head. "Are you sure you should get up?"

"Oh, I'm fine." Ariella replied. "Nothing harmed except my dignity. At least I didn't fall on my bottom, then it would be irreparable. Hercules, I'm Ariella, one of Artemis' priestesses here in Corinth."

"And you have,. . .  she has a message for me?" the voice asked.

Ariella stood up, and looked up, and up again, until her eyes met the wide blue eyes of the man she'd seen standing helpless in her vision. There was a depth of pain and grieving in those eyes that went far beyond any tears they would ever shed. There was a sense of loss and anger he seemed to wear like a shield. The priestess wondered how he would react to what she was being driven to tell him now, but only for an instant. The matter was too urgent.

"Artemis sends me to tell you:  'Hercules, son of Zeus:  You have no choice in this matter. With my queen alone a dark door was opened. With my queen only, can it be closed.' " Ariella let the Goddess' words flow from her lips and knew a small sense of relief. At least this part of her duty was now done.

"With my queen. . .?" the demigod echoed, keeping one strong hand under each of Ariella's arms as he helped her regain her balance. "I don't think I understand. Which queen is Artemis'?  I have no choice in this matter? If its the matter I've been involved in lately, than I'm sorry, but I can't avoid my responsibility. . . too many people are in danger."

"Yes, so my Lady Artemis showed me, son of Zeus." Ariella responded, deciding that formality might be the best tact.

The demigod apparently did not agree. "Your lady Artemis has shown little enough care about someone who always revered her forests and her gifts of life!" Hercules growled. Then he looked slightly ashamed of his outburst. "Priestess, I'm sorry. I just got back from a journey that lasted far, far too long. It was a journey I wish I'd never begun; on which I lost the closest friend I ever had. Perhaps this isn't the best time for us to talk about whatever it is my half sister chose to tell you. Perhaps you could come back and explain this all to me after I've dealt with. . ."

"After you've dealt with the demon who caused all the trouble and grief you speak of, Hercules?" Ariella demanded. "I'm sorry. I don't usually intrude in others lives. In fact, I don't usually interact with people outside the temple precincts. But in this matter, the Lady would not let me rest until I'd delivered her message, and I think she wants you to know the whole vision she gave me. Please understand, this was in ritual and such matters are usually not meant for any but a priest or priestess. If I was not so certain the goddess intends you to know these things, I would be breaking my oaths to tell you. I don't know if I can make it any clearer than that."

"Uh, no, that's very clear. Please, Priestess . . "

"No, there's no need for titles, I only use them to get people's attention. I'm Ariella. Can we go somewhere and talk?"

"Talk about what?" the armor bearing warrior woman asked, stepping up behind Hercules asked. "Hercules, who is this? What are we stopping to talk about?"

"Nebula, this is Ariella, from Artemis' temple. Priestess, this is Nebula, whose ship brought us home and who is also part of this fight." Hercules replied.

"As am I!" the other woman strode across the wharf to join them  "Morrigan's the name. Are you some strange kind of Druid, then?" she asked, pulling at the sleeve of Ariella's robe.

"I don't know what a druhad is, so I'd have to say, no, I'm not one." Ariella replied, "I serve the goddess Artemis in her temple here at Corinth. Last night she sent me a vision, and a message. If, as Hercules says, you are part of his fight, then I must tell you, as well. But I don't think we need to tell the half of Corinth that's here either for market day or to greet you, Hercules."

"No," the demigod agreed. "Only a very few people need to know, right now. If you ladies will come with me, I'll introduce you to them."

Ariella hesitated a moment, wondering if her Goddess meant for the whole of her vision to be revealed only to Hercules. In answer, she felt the same urging onwards she'd known since the vision came. Quietly but insistently, it was not a whispered, inward voice now, but a wordless need to continue what that vision began. Since Hercules and his companions now waited for her, the priestess closed ranks with them and nodded. Lady, she thought, if this is what you want, I am your instrument, as always. Let me not guide these brave people falsely, or through my own fears and lackings, but with your discernment.

Hercules led the way back across the wharf, where a graying older man with a strong bearing and a kind smile clasped the demigod's arm and then pulled him into a hug of greeting. His powerful frame and keen eyes suggested to Ariella that this was Jason, who had been captain of the Argonauts as well as ruler of Corinth. Next to him stood a younger man with sharp features and piercing dark eyes. He waited for Hercules' attention and then clasped both his arms and nodded in response to unspoken questions.

"Yes, I'm home for a change, brother. No, she's not here. My beloved queen wanted to stay and help however she might. But finally I begged Jael to go up into the countryside with the children for safety's sake, and she relented. I promise you all the help Corinth can give. But, I'm still having a hard time believing . . . "

"So am I, brother." Hercules replied, telling Ariella who the dark eyed man must be, his brother Iphicles, king of Corinth. "So am I. But there's really no time to indulge in doubts right now. Trouble is on its way here, and may already be stirring up elsewhere in Greece. And when it gets here, it will be wearing my best friend's face."

Ariella saw that everyone in the small group reacted differently to what Hercules said. Jason shook his head sadly, his eyes full of compassion and understanding. Iphicles frowned tautly, and balled his fists as if eager to strike a foe. Morrigan seemed to brighten strangely at the idea of trouble. And Nebula shuddered, drawing a deep breath as if the idea itself pained her.

Only Hercules of those present had been one of the figures in her vision. Neither the past or present king of Corinth, or either of these foreign women were there. Am I still missing part of the picture? she wondered. Goddess, do you have something more to show me that I may help these people fight the evil they face?

Only my queen can close the darkest door came the whispering voice again. Only my queen can cut the link between our world and the other's. Only my queen . . .

"What did you say?  Ariella, are you all right?" Hercules asked her, startling the priestess as he caught her arm.

The priestess blinked up at him, and then around at the others, all of whom were glancing her way with expressions ranging from skepticism to open curiosity. This was getting to be a bit more than she was used to or liked. Now she seemed to be asking questions inwardly, only to have the Lady answer them aloud. She knew that was what had happened, because she could hear the echoes of the Goddess' voice, like a fading dream in her mind.

"I'm perfectly fine, really." She heard herself say. "I'm sorry. I don't usually . . leave the party that way. But I think maybe I should be sitting down, about now."

"That's a fine idea." Hercules agreed. But instead of helping her to a seat on the wharf side, he put one strong arm behind her back, another under her legs and carried her to a small carriage. "Lets get moving, people. It seems my half sister, Artemis, in this case, has more information for us. What I don't understand is why she didn't just bring the message herself!"

"Maybe she just guessed you'd be in a really foul mood when you got home." Nebula quipped. "And she didn't want to have to go toe to toe. "

"No, I don't think so." Ariella replied, before she realized the dark woman was joking. "I don't know all Her reasons, of course. But there is more for you all to know, and there is someone else who needs to be here. Only I have no idea whatever who she is."

"If you tell us your vision, priestess." Morrigan interjected  "I'm sure one of us will be able to understand what it means. Isn't that the way of visions and such?"

"Well, it is, yes. At least that's my training, and my experience, at Her temple." Ariella answered, surprised and thankful that someone understood.

"But you've not walked very far outside that temple, have you?" Nebula challenged.

"No, there's been no need for me to, not since I was dedicated to her service." the priestess replied. "There's been no need for me to travel any further than I did today, to Corinth's marketplace. Why do you ask?"

"Only because I think living closed up like that can play tricks on your perspective, on your mind. Nothing personal." The dark woman told her. "I just spent a few months cooped up in a castle, but it might as well have been a temple or a prison. Maybe your goddess just wants you to get out and clear your head."

 "Maybe She wants to test me, to see if I can tell the difference between Her visions and my own imaginings. Is that what you're saying, queen Nebula?" Ariella answered, looking the dark woman eye to eye.

The dark beauty blinked.  "Now, if I were a queen," she replied, looking suddenly regal from top to toe despite her costume, "how would you or your goddess know it, since it has nothing to do with why I'm back in Greece again?"

"But it does. As my goddess showed me, part of the horror that's been unleashed on our world has already struck you closely enough to nearly drive you mad. You proved stronger than that evil, and that's why you're back again to fight it to an ending. But you're not the queen my Goddess' vision showed me. The bond was never formed between you and the demon, but between you and Iolaus. In the same way, the bond was never formed between the queen I was shown and Iolaus, but between her and the demon. I'm very sorry for your loss, Nebula. We all are. Gods willing there will come a time for you to mourn him."  

Nebula said nothing more, but her eyes revealed grief and regret as deep as the ocean she traveled. She climbed into the carriage beside Ariella, as did kings Jason and Iphicles. The priestess was sure all three of them were well used to this kind of transportation. To her, it was rare and fascinating. Hercules and Morrigan, she saw, watching them from the carriage window, borrowed two of the escort's horses and rode along side. They kept watch and spoke quietly to each other. A fragile link lay between them, as well, but it was not one that held a life in common, not yet.   

Within less time than it would have taken her to walk back to the temple precincts, Ariella found herself the center of attention at King Iphicles private hall. After servants brought what seemed to her a tremendous feast for the returned travelers, all five of her new acquaintances began listening to and questioning the priestess. Never in her life had she known or sought such notice. Having it from five intense people at once made her feel rather like bait on a fisherman's line. Despite the urgency of her vision and her message, the priestess became absolutely tongue tied. 

"Ariella," Hercules suggested, "usually the best thing is to start from the beginning and give as much information as you have. We'll take it from there, all right?"

"Of course. With your indulgence, your majesties, Morrigan, Hercules, I will ask you to keep the same secrecy I am bound to, about what I will tell you now. Otherwise, I will be breaking my most sacred oaths."

All gave assent, in murmurs and nodding heads, so she went on. "When the moon is new and again when it is full, it has always been my practice, to go to the sacred pool inside the temple grounds, to see what, if anything, the Lady has to show me there. I was tending a new mother for the past week and so my new moon rite was delayed almost three days this time. That's quite a long time, where a ritual is concerned. I thought, when I went to the pool last night that the delay was the reason I felt such urgency. Now, I don't think so."

Ariella sipped the watered wine she'd been given, studied the faces around her once more and continued:

"I saw a woman and a man facing one another in a small room.  She was standing, he was reclining. The woman was wary, the man was either relaxed or weary, I couldn't tell which. The woman was lithe and small in stature with red-gold hair and watchful green eyes. If I had to guess, I'd say she was from Thrace, or Macedon, as my father's kin are. She seemed unutterably sad, her face full of regret. The man was flaxen haired and wiry built, with intelligent blue eyes that never left the woman's face. His face was far harder to read, sometimes it was arrogant, sometime full of longing."

Ariella heard a deep sigh, and realized it came from Hercules. The demigod looked as if she'd touched a raw wound, but he said nothing aloud.

"I couldn't hear what  was said between them. I only saw their movements. Any movement the man made towards her, the woman countered, threatening him with a weapon she held firmly in both hands. At first, I could not see what that was. Then I realized, it was a short sword with an undulating blade. Consistently, without showing any real fear, the man moved out of her range. It was almost like . . a dance, a ritual dance. Finally, several things happened so close together that I'm still not sure . . "

"Go on, priestess." Morrigan encouraged her, "We're listening."

"Well, first it seemed the woman decided all at once to attack and she struck the man down with blinding speed, before either of them could say or do anything more. But then, it looked almost as if  the man dropped his guard deliberately, and opened himself willingly to her blow, the way I was trained an animal willingly sacrificed to the gods should do. Still, I'm not sure, because then,  it seemed the man fell to his knees, as an executioner's victim might do, and the woman reacted to the gesture by giving a fatal stroke. But as the man crumpled towards the floor, she gathered him in her arms, sobbing and keening and tearing her hair with the same blade. Frankly, that part still doesn't make any sense to me. Does it, to any of you?"

Ariella looked at her new companions, all of whom listened carefully, none of them seeming in the least shocked or surprised. Maybe they're just too well mannered to tell me this sounds like the ravings of a mad woman. she considered.

"I wish it didn't make sense." Hercules finally answered, somberly. "But it does. The man, was he wearing an odd kind of robes, like a priest's robes only, none seen around here?"

"Yes, black robes with strangely made sleeves." Ariella agreed.

"And the woman, how was she dressed?" Nebula asked, although she seemed reluctant to know the answer.

"Well, to some extent, like you and Morrigan are, your . . Nebula. I suppose you might say with an eye towards the practical. She wore a short kilt, knee high boots, and a very short bodice, laced with leather thongs. And she wore her hair down onto her shoulders, as you do. I saw a costume something like that in a play once. The young actor was supposed to be enacting an Amazon, I believe. "

"Priestess, earlier you were calling her a queen." King Iphicles mentioned. "That doesn't sound much like the wearing apparel of a queen."

"Your majesty, it was my Lady Artemis who called her a queen, in fact, Her queen. She didn't look like any drawing or vase portrait of a queen I've ever seen." Ariella explained.  

Hercules was sitting next to the priestess, with Morrigan on his right. His eyes were thoughtful as he listened to her description. "And her eyes were green." The demigod added, "Is that right?"

"Why, yes they were, bright green and full of sorrow. The demon has cost her greatly, too. But how did you know that, Hercules?" Ariella demanded. "Did you see the vision, too?"

"No, but I've been trying to listen to you and at the same time puzzle out the message Artemis sent. 'My queen' she said and you describe this 'queen' being dressed like an Amazon. I only know one who matches the description you've given us." Hercules sighed, and frowned as he went on. "It may be hard to get a message to her. She's a traveling bard. But she was also, through an odd set of circumstances, once named queen to a tribe of Amazons. Her name is Gabrielle."

"Well, that explains her connection to the goddess." Ariella nodded. "Many of the Amazons, I've heard, worship Artemis. How best can we reach her with the Lady's message?"

"Well, the fact that she travels with a warrior as well known as Xena should make finding this young woman a bit easier." Jason suggested.

"We'll use every means that comes to hand, priestess." King Iphicles assured her. "We'll send riders and messenger birds and recruit some Amazons of our own, if we have to. This matter is too important and too dangerous to neglect any effort."

"And until Gabrielle gets here, we'll make some preparations of our own." Hercules agreed. "Is there anything more you can tell us, Ariella?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." The priestess shook her head, but feeling a new unease as she looked into his wide, blue eyes. There was something more that, as with other lucid dreams and visions sent by the goddess, she couldn't quite get a conscious image of in her mind.

"But there's something I really don't understand here. You're saying they stood and talked to each other." Nebula asked, incredulously. "They just stood and talked? About what?"

 "I couldn't hear their words. The . . .man she spoke with seemed very weary, sometimes, other times in the vision he seemed to be mocking her, encouraging her to attack."

"That's part of his repertoire." Hercules agreed, frowning. "And if he thinks no one who cares about Iolaus will be able to attack someone who seems to be, or only looks like him. He's going to find out just how wrong he can be, the next time we meet! By all the gods, he is!"

"Hercules!" Ariella held out her hands in alarm. "Oaths are not taken lightly by any of the gods. Don't you know that by now? The gods are not mocked!"

Once more, unbidden, the previous night's vision returned to Ariella's mind's eye:  She still heard no words spoken. She still picked up a sense of some ritual being enacted. But now, in a corner of the room in which she saw the robed man and the amazon clad woman, she saw another male figure, standing with his face turned to the wall, his arms down, his shoulders slumped. This was a very tall, strongly built man, whose form and face and name were known throughout Greece, and all the more so in Corinth, where his brother reigned as king. This was without question, Hercules, and somehow, he was barred from the struggle.

The fair haired, bright eyed man was in some ways like another hero figure of Corinth, Hercules' friend, Iolaus.  Iolaus  was a warrior and a hunter, as well known through most of Greece as his half godly companion. Their exploits were well known, especially in and around Corinth where they sometimes rested from their adventures.  Lady, why would Hercules just stand there if his friend's life was in danger?

 The goddess' words echoed 'The son of Zeus has no choice in the matter.' Artemis said, clearly, sternly. 'These two are mine and they must be returned to me. The foreign demon shall not have them indefinitely, though it wills that end; and only my queen can break their bond to it. Only my queen can cut the cord that once held a life in common between our world and the other's. Only that cord binds the man we know to the other's world; because by his own choice, he once fought the demon's spawn.'

Now Ariella, coming out of the vision again, benumbed by what she saw and heard, felt she understood fully at last. Something existed between the Amazon and that evil spirit, as alive as both but in a very different way. When she sensed it, Ariella knew where she had seen such a connection before, and why her help was needed. This was the normally invisible tie between any two who created and delivered a life into the world. It didn't matter how, or to what purpose. It didn't matter who they were or if they had any other connections in common. It didn't matter if love or hatred or lust or power was the motive for their joining.

Working out of Artemis' temple as a midwife, Ariella had seen these more times than she could count. She had seen it between new, first time parents delighting in the birth of a child. She had seen it between older women and their lovers, surprised and bemused to find themselves parents again. The priestess had also seen it existing between a woman attacked and her attacker, thus helping the priestess of Artemis and the woman to identify the wrongdoer.  And she was once more chilled to her own core as she realized that this connection was what had to be cut, and soon. If it was not, a very real danger existed:  All the pain and grief, all the mourning and horror that had already come through that connection into the world, would be dwarfed by what could come through yet.

"Ariella," she finally heard Hercules saying, as a cup was held to her lips. "Ariella, drink this, you're shivering like a new born foal. Here, drink."

The priestess sipped from the cup, and finding it was unwatered wine, carefully sipped only a little more.

"So, Artemis is telling me for the third time today that I have no choice in this . . matter? I hate it when that happens." Hercules said, with a mirthless grin. "Well, my friends, it seems we have to find Gabrielle."


	2. Chapter 2

Part two:   On the road southeast from Calydon to Delphi

Gabrielle, bard by profession and Amazon queen by right of caste held the scroll the young rider had just brought to her.

"King Iphicles said the message was urgent." The young woman, a member of the king of Corinth's guard told her. "Your . . uh. . .your highness"

"I'm not a highness." Gabrielle chuckled. "And I'm going to read this in just a moment." Gabrielle assured her. "First, though, you're going to sit and drink something and catch your breath, so that you can fill in any details he didn't write down."

"Of course, your . . ." the Guardswoman paused, but gladly gulped from the wineskin she was offered.

"My name is Gabrielle." The bard-queen supplied. "What's yours?"

"Halimeda." The younger woman grimaced. "My father is a ship's captain.  I was born when he'd just had a good season's sailing."

"Well, then, the name suits you. You have eyes that shift colors like the sea.  Okay, I'm going to read the king's message. But, Halimeda, what's wrong? Is there something else you need to tell me first?"

"Yes, . . Gabrielle, there is. This isn't good news I bear. A friend of the king, and a friend of his brother, Hercules has died, faraway somewhere called Sumeria. For some reason I'm not privy to, they are expecting a lot of trouble in Corinth, soon, and they need your help. I suppose the rest is in the message itself. I can't read, so I don't know. I almost got the idea though that they didn't want anyone reading the messages they were sending out to find you."

"A friend of the king. ." Gabrielle echoed, feeling an emptiness in the pit of her stomach, as if she'd taken an unexpected blow. "and a friend of his brother."

The bard queen breathed deep, trying to keep away the feeling that she knew the answer to her next question before it was spoken.

"Halimeda, the person who died; did they tell you the person's name?"

"Yes," the Guardswoman nodded, her face somber. "he was Hercules' closest friend, . ."

"Iolaus." Gabrielle heard another voice say what her own could not. Turning, she saw Xena, standing like a statue, her sky blue eyes bright with tears. "Iolaus has died. So the rumors we heard were true."

The bard nodded, dropped the message scroll unread and flung herself into the warrior's arms. Wordless, the two women clung to one another, finding their only comfort in each other's presence. Several moments passed this way, before they drew apart. Each woman's face was wet with tears.

Gabrielle touched her lover's face softly. It was still amazing to her to know the once hardened warlord could weep. A small, final sob escaped the bard's throat and she hugged Xena fiercely. As always in times of greatest trouble or sorrow, she was eased by the dark haired  woman's presence, bemused, wondering how they had survived thus far, and grateful.

"You're Xena." Gabrielle heard the messenger exclaim softly as she recognized the bard's lover. The younger woman's eyes widened and she sat up straighter, as if in the presence of her own commander. Shaking her head at the often repeated reaction, Gabrielle smiled. She picked up the scroll, but still ignored its contents, knowing she would pour over its details later. Instead, as she'd learned was always more interesting, the bard watched what was going on immediately around her.

"No, relax." Gabrielle heard Xena say. " You've made a long ride to find us. Is there anything more you were told about this situation?" Xena asked the rider.

"Not so much more that I was told, warrior. But a great many in Corinth are getting ready for some kind of trouble. King Iphicles already sent his family to safety and many others in the guard and among the townsfolk are doing the same. No details have been given out. The king says that will keep people from panicking. I think it just makes everyone more nervous."

"In some situations, it does." Xena agreed. "I've always thought its best to know who you're fighting before the fighting starts. Sometimes its just smarter to get the Hades out of there beforehand!"

"It might be, this time." Gabrielle interjected quietly, walking up to the two fighting women. "Halimeda, I'm very grateful you found us. Xena, do you know where there would be a horse trader in Delphi?"

"Of course I do. But Argo's fine. Why do we need a horse trader?" Xena asked her lover, with a confused frown.

"Because, as much as I dislike riding; I have to get to Corinth as quickly as possible. Now, unless you think Hercules' friend Typhon is going to come along and carry me, a horse will just have to do." the bard replied. "There are about thirty dinars in our haversack. How much do you think I should pay for a horse?"

"Well, depending on the age of the horse and the shape its in, no more than ten or twelve. But Gabrielle. . . Gabrielle, look at me. Why are you talking as if you're going to Corinth alone?" Xena demanded.

"Because I am. Hercules sent for me. So I'm going." Gabrielle told her, as she began to separate and repack items from the gear they were carrying.

"Well of course you're going. We're going." Xena frowned.

"No, Xena. This is not for you to deal with. It's for me. This message was for me. King Iphicles sent Halimeda and a lot of other messengers looking for me, not for you." Gabrielle tried again to explain.

"Uh-huh. And why in Tartarus if there's going to be trouble should the king of Corinth send messengers only for you? Iphicles should know I'm not Corinth's enemy any longer; and if he doesn't know it, Hercules certainly does! What reason could there be . ."

"Only one reason, Xena," Gabrielle responded. Then she pulled her lover away from where the messenger sat, doing the best she could to ignore them and make a mid day meal out her trail rations. "And I can tell you in one word."

"Then tell me, Gabrielle." Xena insisted.

"Dahak."

"No." Xena's eyes widened to bright blue circles. "Gabrielle, no!"

"Yes. Xena, I skimmed the message. Go ahead and read it, if you don't believe me. That demon has finally taken a form in which it can be confronted, a form in which it can be fought, and a form in which it can be, gods willing, stopped. And that is exactly why I have to go to Corinth. I have to stop it. Now."

"It's taken a form?" Xena picked up the message and read slowly, carefully. Then she dropped her voice. "It has taken Iolaus' form. Yes, I understand that. The monster thinks that will keep Hercules and the others in Corinth from being able to fight it. But that doesn't exclude me, I'd be glad to crush the life out of it."

"Xena," Gabrielle shook her head, still rearranging their gear, leaving the bulk of it with the warrior. "you're wrong. I'm sorry, love, but this time you're wrong. Your . . history with Iolaus does exclude you, and the demon will know that, too. Do you really think you could crush the life out of someone or something that looked exactly like Iolaus? Do you think it wouldn't bring up all your questions, your doubts about Iolaus forgiving you? Do you think it wouldn't play on your guilt where he's concerned? What was one of the first things you taught me, Xena?  She who hesitates is lost. Listen to me:  If you go up against Dahak now; and its looking like Iolaus, sounding and moving like Iolaus make you hesitate for even a second, you're lost. I can't allow that, my love. I won't allow that. This whole debacle started with me, Xena. It has to end with me.

This is the reason for everything I've learned; especially the things I never wanted to learn. Don't you see that? Finally, finally there's a reason!  I had to learn that I could kill, and I did. I had to learn that I could kill someone I cherished, and I did. I had to learn that I could make life and death choices, and I did. I had to learn that these kinds of choices and actions are as much a part of who I am as they are of anyone else, and I did. Then I needed to remember that I am still the one who makes my own destiny, and I did. Then I needed to remember that some things are worth dying for, and I did. Now, I have to kill that fiend. And I will. No matter what. Xena, you have to understand." Gabrielle insisted, holding her lover's strong hands and her gaze.

 "No," Xena replied, shaking her dark head. "No I don't have to understand. And I don't. The demon has turned its attention on our friends Iolaus and Hercules. I hate the idea of their going through the kind of pain and horror we have.  I want to help them fight it. The gods know, I'm as willing as I ever was to fight that thing to my last breath, alone, or with all the armies on the face of the earth at my side. No matter what."

"Except. . ." the bard interjected, shaking her head, "you want me to stay out of it, somehow? Xena, you know better than that. Even if you don't want to admit it, you do. Iolaus and I are right in the middle of all this. We haven't been given any choice in the matter. We just are.

But I think I know why we are and it works very much to our advantage. We're not important enough for Dahak to worry about. More than once, that monster has underestimated each of us, Iolaus and myself. I think that's what's happening again, now. I think that's why we stand a chance to defeat it. Dahak tried to destroy you and me. It tried to destroy Hercules and you, Xena. Everyone and everything else around the two of you have only been the tools it would use to that purpose. Well, you're looking at one tool that's going to turn against the demon that wants to use her, and unless I mistake my hunters, Iolaus will, too."

Xena looked at the bard queen, shook her head again and pulled her even further away from where the messenger sat. Her eyes were sad and bluer than the day light sky, her lover thought.

"Gabrielle," the warrior finally said. "do you have any idea how much . .I hate it when you're right?"

Gabrielle nodded, feeling a small grin tug at her lips. "A whole lot?" she guessed. "It's okay, Xena. You'll get used to it, someday."

"Only if I live that long." Xena replied. "Which I doubt. Any case, I'm going with you." she continued, in a tone that left no room for argument.

Gabrielle nodded without making any verbal response, looked at their rearranged gear and laughed aloud. "Well, I was bored with the way these were packed, anyway. I could never find the cooking oil."

After instructing Halimeda to rest herself and her mount, Gabrielle and Xena sent a messenger bird ahead of them. Then with both of them astride Argo's strong back, they set off south and east, for Corinth. Their road took them past Apollo's oracle at Delphi, but neither the warrior nor the bard felt any need to consult the prophetess there. In their own pasts and in their own lives they could easily read what their futures might bring. More than ever before, they knew what they would do and what they would give, to hold their world to the shape they knew and loved.


	3. Chapter 3

Part three,

Five days later, Corinth:

Corinth in those days sat back on two terraced plateaus from her artificial harbor, which allowed the traders and the travelers of the known world to admire the ancient city's ingenuity along with her beauty. Her bronze works were as renowned as her pottery, and imported perhaps even more widely. Her market place was always busy, not only with trade, but with rumor, gossip and news.

 The news running through the market today was a bizarre tale that many refused to believe. It was said a man reported dead faraway had in fact returned to the city. It was said that although he seemed harmless enough, this traveler was abruptly detained by King Iphicles'  own guards and just as quickly escaped them. But more than that it was said that this wanted man amazingly resembled someone everyone in Corinth knew on sight, the companion of both Hercules and former king, Jason, Iolaus.

At King Iphicles' court, however, the guardsmen and women who attempted to arrest and detain the man they were sent after had no doubts. They were bruised and battered, in the best cases, the ones who ducked and ran from the stranger. Others came limping home with heads gashed or limbs half severed. In muted tones they reported to the king and his most private council that three of their party died, trying to seize the monster.

"Your majesty," the highest ranked survivor, a Guardswoman of many years service told the king. "whatever that was we went up against, it could not have been mortal. It could not have been Iolaus. I can't explain this, I know, but I tell you in any case:  This is a creature of evil, somehow masquerading as your friend."

"Thank you, Philana." Iphicles responded. "Your bravery in confronting this evil will not go unrewarded."

"It was no more than our duty, sire." She bowed and left the councilors alone, passing as she left the hall a tall, dark warrior woman and a fair haired woman in amazon garb.

"So, the demon's made it this far?" Xena asked, as she strode into the king's private hall.

"That was the report we just got." Hercules answered, going to greet her and Gabrielle. It had been months since they last met, almost a year, and the demigod was greatly conflicted to see these two friends in Corinth now. Obviously, their help was needed. Ariella's messages made that abundantly clear. But Hercules hated the idea of exposing even more of the people he cherished to the demon.

"I don't understand." Xena looked around the room, seeing only a handful of people.. "Aren't you calling up Corinth's forces? Aren't you going to fight the monster?"

"Yes, but not on those terms," Nebula said, walking up to stand eye to eye with Xena. "The monster, as you put it, is still in the body of Iolaus. No matter what it can do to us, we can't take the chance of killing him. I hope I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," the warrior responded coldly.   "And you are?"

Hercules stepped forward to face the two women.  "Xena, this is Nebula, Queen of Sumeria and my very good friend.  She and Iolaus were . . . close."

Xena stifled a smirk.  "Take a number," she responded, pointedly turning her attention from Nebula to the demigod.. "Except, I'm sorry, Hercules, did I misunderstand? The message we got said Iolaus was already dead; that he died months ago in Sumeria. Isn't that true?"

"Yes. As far as we can tell. It's been damn confusing." Hercules admitted. "Xena, Gabrielle, first of all, there are only a handful of people who know what's going on, so far. We've been trying to keep it that way. Secondly, you haven't met the others who are in on this fight. Besides Nebula, whose ship brought us home, this is Morrigan, a druid,  who came back with me from Ireland, and this is Ariella, a priestess of Artemis here in Corinth. Lastly, I don't know if either of you have had the chance to meet my brother, Iphicles, or our long time friend, Jason." The demigod then put one strong arm across the shoulders of each newcomer. "These are my friends, Xena and Gabrielle. They've been fighting this demon even longer than we have."

"Then you are the queen the Lady spoke of." Ariella said, walking up to the bard.

"I was given the rank of Amazon queen." Gabrielle replied,  "By two brave women who died protecting their way of life. I've only rarely used the rank or the rights of that title, though. What lady are you talking about?"

"The Lady, the Goddess Artemis." Ariella answered. "Don't you, as an Amazon, worship Her?"

"I deeply respect Artemis'." Gabrielle admitted. "Probably more than I do any other Olympian. But I've never thought in terms of worship."

"I see. Well, respect is a starting point, at least, isn't it?" Ariella asked of no one in particular.

"Hercules, "Gabrielle said, turning to face her towering friend. "do you know where the demon is, now? Or will we have to go looking for it through the countryside?"

"The guardswoman who was just here said it had gathered a few dozen followers locally, and they took over an abandoned fortress on the cliffs overlooking the sea wall. We were talking just now about ways we might find to drive it down into the sea; although I don't think Poseidon would thank us for the offering!" Hercules' smiled mirthlessly. He felt older than the ocean's god just now, and nowhere near as strong.

"A fortress, you said?  So it's enclosed, at least on three sides?" the bard asked.

"Yes, Gabrielle." Jason answered her. "It was built before my father's reign. But the improvements he made to the harbor, and the city's defenses in general made the old fort obsolete."

"Are these followers of the demon armed in any way, or do they call themselves priests of Dahak like those we met in Thessaly?" Xena asked. "They were bullies, perfectly willing to round up villagers for blood sacrifice. But they ran like sheep when their own health was threatened."

"None of our reports suggests actively defensive measures being taken by the mortals out there. " Iphicles answered. "All the injuries, and the three deaths were caused by Dahak."

"We should take a look at the place, then." Xena suggested, with an unfeeling grin. "Obviously that's where the thing wants us to make a stand. Let's try not to disappoint it."

"Maybe you're right." Hercules answered. "We could take a small scouting party. . "

"Wait a moment. This fortress you say is on the sea's edge, old, isolated and abandoned?" Morrigan asked, pursing her lips and shaking her head. "Are you sure its a decent place for a battle? Wouldn't we do better to draw the wicked creature out of its lair and onto an open space?"

"Well, that could be a better plan." The son of Zeus nodded, looking at the fiery woman who'd followed him halfway around the world and back. He looked around the hall, and knew before he looked that they were as amazed as he was. He felt rudderless, uncertain, with a deep need to second guess every idea presented. He thought this feeling of being only half himself had fled in Sumeria, leaving him strong and sure once more. Instead, since debarking at Corinth, it had returned, and grown stronger by the hour.

"Hercules," Nebula called his name softly and he turned to her. Echoes of his own pain and confusion shone with the unshed tears in her eyes. She swallowed hard, smiled shakily and went on. "I know what you're feeling. It's not Iolaus'. . . .death that's causing  this uncertainty. The gods of both our lands know we haven't had time to deal with that. What you're feeling now, what we're both feeling now is from that . . thing. It's what nearly drove me mad, while I was alone in Sumeria. It's a lie, Hercules.  It's all lies. Dahak . . .doesn't know how to tell the truth and would go on lying if the truth sounded better." She pulled him into a fierce hug, then quickly pushed him away with a grin that was far too bright and turned to Xena.

"I can see you are probably used to rough living and rough talk, warrior. So am I. Still, I had the training of a queen among my own people, so I have no excuse for the way I addressed you earlier. I ask your pardon, there was no offense meant."

"None taken,." Xena replied, and bowed her head, her eyes wide. "your majesty."

"Ariella, you've become very quiet. Do your visions show anything to help us decide what our next step should be?" Hercules asked the priestess.

"I think so. Are there any drawings . . .  .I mean charts or plans of the fortress we're talking about? I feel that if I saw them, if someone who understands such things read them with me, I should say, we'd get a clearer answer. Going out by the sea . . may be to our advantage, or it may not. Your majesty, doesn't the palace have a library?"

"Of course." Iphicles and Jason chorused, and then laughed heartily at each other, a response that made Hercules laugh out loud, while everyone else looked puzzled.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ariella apologized, politely nodding her understanding "King Iphicles, if I can see the library?"

 "It's become more of a schoolroom, lately." Iphicles continued. "My older son has quite a head on his shoulders and is reading everything he can find these days. He'll be reading state documents in a month or two at this rate! "

The conferences went on most of the day. Time was taken, just barely to take meals and let the newcomers refresh themselves after their journey. In informal pairs they searched the maps and charts of old Corinth. Jason and Xena studied what they found for any possible strategic advantage. Hercules and Morrigan, on whom the demigod leaned a great deal for moral support, looked for any kind of unexpected, yet open offensive plan that could be devised. Iphicles and Nebula read everything that turned up in written form about the fortress itself, the dark queen surprising the king of Corinth with the breadth of her learning. Ariella and Gabrielle spent a lot of time studying each other until a certain comfort level set in. Then they took what the others had found and concentrated on seeking out the kind of enclosed, or isolated chambers the fortress might hold that resembled the place of Ariella's vision.

"You saw me in the visions Artemis sent you?" Gabrielle asked the priestess while they searched, shaking her head as if still bewildered by the idea.

"Yes, I did.  And it wasn't until I saw you here, face to face that I was absolutely sure." Ariella responded. "But the person the Goddess called Her queen wore your clothing, your boots. She carried your staff, and had your hair and eye color to the life. The same was true of Hercules, he was unmistakable. Until I see it, I suppose I won't be certain of the . . . appearance taken by the demon. But Iolaus is also well known in Corinth. The appearance was like that of twins."

"Well, I have to say, it's the first time I've come up in anyone's visions; that I know of." The bard smiled half heartedly.

"And you wish you hadn't done so now?" the priestess asked.

"No, I want to help my friends, all of them, including Iolaus, if there's anyway he can still be helped." Gabrielle insisted. "When I got Hercules' message I told Xena . . . .I told her I knew that being ready and able to destroy this monster at last must be the reason for the ordeal I've gone through in the past year or so. Was that in your vision, too?"

"To some extent." Ariella replied, realizing suddenly that the young bard queen was younger than herself, but far more worldly wise. "I saw your pain, your grieving and your rage. I also saw your compassion and your abiding love for the man the demon is abusing now. What I understood from the Goddess, Gabrielle, is very much what you've said:  That what you've gone through at the demon's hands, what you learned from all that, has made you the only person who can release Iolaus and all your friends from the torment it threatens them with. But She has also brought me here to tell you that you do not act and you are not alone. She cannot touch the horror that this . . wicked creature as Morrigan calls it is. But the Goddess can strengthen your heart and your arm, using them as Her instruments. Can you allow Her to do that, Gabrielle?"

"I . . I think so, yes." The bard answered, with tears standing in her eyes. "I really only have one question."

"I'll answer it for you, if I can." Ariella told her, "Or ask the Lady, if I can't."

"What . . .what will happen to the man who was our friend, to Iolaus himself, if I succeed? Will he go to Elysium and find rest?  Will he live again? There are so many in the world who still love him and need him. I know what the monster wants. What does my friend want? Did the Goddess show you that?"

"No, She did not." Ariella shook her head sadly, struck again by the depth of the younger woman's compassion. "Would you have me ask?"

"N-no, I expect your Lady would already have said something, if the answer was that easy to find." A tremulous smile appeared on Gabrielle's face, as she saw Hercules looking over at her with the same kind of quiet sadness. "Please, Ariella, tell me everything you saw, in these visions. I think that will be the most help, while I look for the kind of chamber or hall or whatever kind of room you saw on these charts."


	4. Chapter 4

**Part four  **Several mornings later, outside Corinth

'These two are mine and they must be returned to me. The foreign demon shall not have them indefinitely, though it wills that end; and only my queen can break their bond to it. Only my queen can cut the cord that once held a life in common between our world and the other's. Only that cord binds the man we know to the other's world; because by his own choice, he once fought the demon's spawn.'

Ariella, priestess of Artemis, woke with the Goddess' words ringing in her mind once more. She knew a great deal more about their meaning than the first time she spoke them for the Lady. She knew a great deal more about the courageous few gathered to fight 'the foreign demon'. And she knew more about herself, because she'd never once imagined being part of such an effort. Still she wondered, especially in the quiet of early hours like these, if she was made of stern enough stuff to aid her new companions.

They're wondering the same thing about themselves, Ariella. she told herself. Anyone who isn't daunted by such a task must be mad. Look at what you've done to prove yourself in just a few days' time. You confronted the son of Zeus with words he did not want to hear. You confronted him not once but three times, until he believed you. You spent first hours, and then days in the royal palace, planning how to attack and destroy a demon, rather than in your temple precinct, planning when to plant or cut herbs or what to teach the new acolytes. And hardest of all, you revealed all this to the senior priestess, on your own, with only the king's message to back you up! You convinced her to give you time beyond what you'd already taken without her leave. And now, you're camping further outside the city walls than you've ever walked, together with a demigod, a druid priestess, two kings of Corinth, a warrior woman, a queen from another land and an Amazon! Ariella, you're lucky that Calandra believed you, much less gave you permission for this exploit!

She and Gabrielle had found several sites that might be the actual location of Ariella's visions. The fortress had two turrets, but one was half torn down, open the sea and air. The other was small enough, according to the charts. Besides that, was a room labeled 'hall' that was small enough by present day standards to be the kind of place the vision showed. And the last was, not surprisingly, a dungeon or a crypt, it was hard to tell which use had been made of the lower level of the fortress so long ago.

Today they would approach the fortress along the sea wall that protected Corinth's harbor. Each of them got up as early as Ariella and made their personal preparations. There were only the eight of them, although a troop of Guards waited further back along their route. Ariella wore her ritual robes, as she thought appropriate to her role here. Kings Iphicles and Jason were dressed as common  warriors, as were Hercules and Xena. Gabrielle, Morrigan and Nebula had changed their usual garb. Instead they wore somewhat longer tunics, more colorful kilts and headgear all decorated with feathers, or in the manner of wild animals. These, Ariella had been told, were the proper costumes of Amazons and that was the role these three would play.

 Hercules told his friends there was no point in trying to sneak up on their common enemy. It was not the kind that could be taken by surprise or by stealth.

"The thing we're going after is expecting us, most of us, anyway. It knows what enemies it made in Sumeria and Ireland and Greece." The son of Zeus said, when they were ready. "We can only win this by seeming to give in to it, to surrender, if I understand our priestess' vision correctly. Jason and Iphicles, Xena and myself are going as an armed escort, apparently, for our friendly neighborhood Amazon queen.  Ariella, Morrigan, and Nebula, I guess, are going in as her entourage. Don't mistake me. I don't like this any better than you do. Going to meet an enemy I'm not to fight is . . not what I'm used to."

"Well, I guess I don't dare complain," Gabrielle teased the rest. "I've never had both and escort and an entourage before."

"Don't let it go to your head, my queen." Xena shook her head at the bard. "One way or another, it won't last long."

"Oh, but while it goes on, warrior, she must let it go directly to her head." Nebula laughed, "Gabrielle, being a queen, for a short while, can be very agreeable. First, though you have to learn to walk like this." The Sumerian beauty lifted her shoulders and straightened her back as if not a sea captain's ramrod, but a monarch's scepter was being measured against it. She raised her head and smiled frozenly from side to side, waving and nodding as if she accepted the praise and love of hundreds of adoring subjects, while balancing the world's heaviest crown on her head. "See?"

Ariella stared at the transformation Nebula made from warrior woman to queen without seeming to bend the least effort. She looked at the rest of the group and found that Iphicles and Jason were simply nodding agreement, Xena was hiding half her face behind one hand, masking her own reaction, while Morrigan and Hercules were smiling.

"Uh-huh." Gabrielle replied, with a slight frown creasing her forehead. "And this will fool that thing inside the fortress?"

"No, but it will confuse the humans guarding the place, long enough for us to enter, maybe even long enough for Dahak to make itself known." Jason told her, "If our strategy is successful."

"Gabrielle," Hercules asked the younger woman, with the kind of respect, even deference Ariella thought he might give a queen. "are you ready?"

The bard nodded. "I've been ready for this day for a very, very long time, Hercules. I just didn't know when or if it would arrive. I will do my part, I swear it as a bard and as a queen to Amazons. Nothing will stop me."

"Or me." the demigod replied, clasping her gauntleted wrist. "I swear it as the son of Alcmene and of Zeus.

"Or me." Iphicles intoned. "I swear it as the king and protector of Corinth."

"Or me." Xena echoed. "I swear it as the companion and protector of our Amazon queen."

"Or me." Jason said in turn. "I swear it as the friend of the man we seek to release, and the former king of Corinth."

"Or me." Nebula said strongly. "I swear it as Sumeria's queen, and the heart that lives in place of Iolaus'."

"Or me." Morrigan stated sternly. "I swear it as the last of the Druids."

"Or me." Ariella joined, clasping her arm on the others' so clasped. "I swear it as the priestess of Artemis the Huntress who sent us here today."

A thrill ran up through her arm, and looking round, Ariella saw the others felt it too. They were one in mind and purpose now. They were oath-bound.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part Five **

Flanked by four warriors, four women walked towards an abandoned fortress outside Corinth. All the words they needed between each other had already been spoken. So as the sun climbed the sky behind cover of a wintry day's clouds, they were silent. Ariella stilled her own uncertainties with a lifetime's practice of greeting the rising sun as Her Goddess' shining brother, Apollo, and asking his favor as well. Much depended on the success of this small band, she believed, but truly all was not in their hands. Rather it was in the hands of the gods. So, despite the reservations of her companions, she wordlessly invoked the Olympians to their aid and their cause.

Fear not, whatever your companions may believe, Ariella heard her Goddess clearly:  this is truly our cause as well!

Ariella bowed her head for an instant of thanks and praise, then focused once more on the day's work ahead.

Sea spray and the morning breezes were all she felt in the air around them. There was no wave of unexpected heat, or fireballs falling from the sky as they approached the fortress. Gulls cried and dolphins leapt as if in reply on the far side of the sea wall, Ariella saw no unnatural creatures. A few empty tents sat outside the walls, no crammed pens of human victims for the demon.

It has a true gift for deceit, she realized. All her companions who'd dealt with the demon had told the priestess: It will try anyway it can to lull you, to allay your fears, especially at first, so it can feast on them afterwards. Her main protection, she'd been warned, would be not to believe most of what she saw or heard coming from anyone or anything in its power, much less from the demon itself. Their main weapon was this pre-knowledge.

Now the priestess and her seven friends stood outside the fortress gate, and Morrigan stepped forward, taking the role of spokeswoman.

"Open your gates!" she demanded fiercely. "Here stands the Queen of  the Amazons, Gabrielle,  her royal companions and her loyal escort. Open your gates to us! That which you serve expects Her presence here!"

A man in rough soldier's garb, accompanied by another in a hooded priest's robe stared down at the newcomers, as if they had never thought it possible other humans would walk the sea wall to these gates.

"He whom we follow does not expect any such queen, nor the rest of you rabble neither." The soldier replied and would have said more, except someone Ariella could not see pulled him back and stepped forward in his place. This was a young woman with dark brown hair falling around a pale, narrow face. She wore a kind of priestly robes as well, but none that Ariella had ever seen. And her appearance there startled someone on the sea wall, as Ariella heard a quickly muffled gasp.

"The light whom we follow freely, will gladly welcome Gabrielle back into his arms." This woman said smoothly. "He himself would have delighted to make her Queen of the world, had she asked such a thing, as she gave him her body and his first born child. But, he wonders, what business the rest of you have here? Do you wish to become followers? All who do are welcome here."

"We are duty bound to queen Gabrielle." Nebula now stepped forward to take Morrigan's place. "Our duty is to maintain her well being and dignity at all times and in all places. Therefore, if she is to enter your gates, so must we. You may say of us that we are Queen Gabrielle's servants, as you are servants of the light."

"Well, servants are bound either by slavery or terrible oaths to those they serve." The dark haired woman contended. "While those who stay in these walls follow the light freely of our own wills. But you are all welcome here. Open the gates!" she cried.

"What's wrong, Gabrielle?" Ariella heard Hercules asking the bard in hushed tones.

"Nothing. I'm fine. It's only another lie to deal with among so many." Gabrielle was taking a deep breath, looking somewhat pale. She looked quickly around the group at her companions and said, bitterly:

 "That woman. .  helped begin all this. In Britannia, I was left believing I had killed her. Her name, if even that much was the truth, is Meridian. Her face I will never forget."

"Meridian." Xena said in a frozen voice. "C'mon, lets not keep Meridian waiting."


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Six **

The heavy gates swung open towards them, showing the wear of some eighty or more years. Ariella noticed that Jason, Morrigan,  Iphicles, Nebula and Xena, as well as Hercules studied them covertly as they walked through. Gabrielle was busy with her role as queen, having practiced for hours one night in the palace, she was imitating Nebula's royal walk in perfect mimicry. Ariella made her own kind of sweeping search of the premises, and sensed something odd, but not surprising. They passed an unseen barrier as they entered, too, and a sound like a door snicking shut behind them far more quickly than the physical gates, sounded in her mind. But more than that, her attention was caught by the farthest wall and the surviving turret there. Beyond her physical sight, this tower was full of light, streaming from its arrow-slits, slipping out from its tiled roof, pouring from its lower door.

Lies and illusions Ariella told herself sternly, shaking her head. The monster's tools are deception and half truths, especially for those who have not met it before, and that's Iphicles, Jason and myself. I have to find a way to ward us. I should have done this earlier

 Without delay, the priestess took the king and former king of Corinth aside and got their assent to work as she sought

 to do. Within moments she'd formed a kind of reverse shield, as she envisioned it, for each of them, and her other companions. Clarity of vision prevailed on one side, so that enemies could be seen for what they truly were. Bewilderment was the intended effect on the opposite side, giving their opposition no real idea of who they dealt with.

"The humans we're dealing with might even be a bit afraid of us, while these shields hold. It depends on what kind of working they've been exposed to." Ariella quickly explained to her cohort. "One of my teachers calls it mirroring and sees it a bit differently, in that you are safe on one side, seeing clearly what is going on; while any opposing energy to your working sees only itself, and being negative, scares itself away."

"Works for me." Jason nodded, looking around the ruined courtyard where they'd been left standing. "It must have scared away our welcoming committee, too. There's nobody in here at all."

"How could there be?" Morrigan asked. "This place looks to be falling apart, and it didn't seem that way when we walked in."

"How long do these things last?" Nebula asked. "Or do things just start looking better again when they fall apart?"

"That might be the effect; if we're here that long." Ariella agreed.

"I'm glad I got mine before I stepped into that old well." Iphicles said. "It looks like a very long way down."

 "It is, brother." Hercules half grinned. "Unless I'm mistaken, that's the old midden."

"Ariella, look." Xena called out under her breath. "The turret, the one on the sea ward side, that looked whole and sound on the plans, and even as we walked up here, is almost flat, gone."

"By all the gods!" Gabrielle swore, and then apologized to the priestess. "That's where we talked about looking for the demon. It expects us, all right  Another lie. Another trap."

"Like Britannia." Xena said, and swore roundly with no apology following.

"Like Sumeria." Nebula agreed, looking around.

"Like Eire." Morrigan nodded.

"Well, I've given my oath it won't be like that in Greece." Hercules said coldly. "And the day's hardly begun. Lets get on with this."

"Who dares insult the queen of Amazons?" Nebula called out, her features harsh with outrage. "Our queen stands here as royal as any thin blooded pretty face on a castle wall. Amazons have ruled in these lands, and in Thrace, and in vast territories beyond, by force of arms and by their rights, since before the Achaeans were known to Greece, to Attica, even to Mycenae! A queen of that ancient line stands here before you! She stands here of her own will. And she stands here ignored as if she were not a monarch but a slave! Your majesty, I say we must withdraw. This affront is not to be borne!"

As part of the drama they'd rehearsed, Gabrielle laid a staying hand on her "councilor's" arm. Ariella stifled a giggle as she heard the queen of Sumeria whisper to the Amazon queen: 

"Be careful where you step, your majesty. It's getting deep in here."

..

 Now Ariella and Morrigan stepped forward. The priestess felt her gorge rise as she realized the old fortress was still full of horrors, ones they had not been able to glimpse until now. The druid smiled fiercely at her and shook her head. "The creature cannot trick us, wise one, if we do not believe what it wants us to believe. Most of all, as I came to know at my cost; it wants us to believe we are no match for it."

Gabrielle stepped up just ahead of Ariella and Morrigan, all of them scanning the walls.

Finally, the woman they'd seen above the gate, walked towards them down a collapsing stairway. Her appearance was unchanged, remaining that of a pale, serene young woman, the priestess saw, with some relief. Reaching the group, she curtseyed and then stood facing Gabrielle. She held, laying across her palms in a common gesture of surrender, a short sword with a undulating blade.

"Forgive my tardiness, your majesty." She said, keeping her gaze on Gabrielle alone. "I was being advised by the one I follow, how best to greet you and your cohort. He sends me, since you are finally here of your own will, to tell you the fortress and all that remains within are yours, queen Gabrielle. I surrender them to you, with this ancient symbol."

"Why?" Jason at once demanded. " There are only eight of us.  Why should you surrender this place, if it was important enough to hold against King Iphicles' forces?"

"King Jason, welcome." The woman replied, then seemed to stop and listen for an instant to nothing Ariella could hear. "This place has no importance except that it suits queen Gabrielle as a meeting place. The one I follow has no other purpose for the place. All of you can clearly see why."

"The one you follow either cast an illusion of on my mind, or worked a powerful healing on your body, Meridian." Gabrielle told the other woman. "When we last met you were dead, very dead in fact. I know that, because I had killed you. Which of those is the truth, if you're able to tell the truth from a lie?"

"My death at your hands was a pure illusion, Gabrielle." The woman agreed with a bland expression, as if she were agreeing the sky was blue overhead. " You know by now the one, the light I follow is a great master of many things and surely he is Lord of illusions when they serve his purpose. You believed the illusion you speak of. Your belief was all he required then, as it is now. You believed you had taken an innocent's life, something you swore deeply to yourself you would never do. And from that point, everything changed. Didn't you say so, yourself?"

"Yes, I did. We accept the surrender of this fortress." Gabrielle agreed. "What we can't see are the others we were told followed the monster out here. Where are they?  Are they surrendered to me as well?" she demanded, shuddering as Meridian placed the short sword on her open hands. With a gesture as royal as any Ariella had seen Nebula or the two kings make, Gabrielle motioned for the woman and the sword to be taken from her sight. Then she looked at Ariella, and the older woman realized  the bard could no longer bear to look at the demon's servant.

"Anyone who came here freely to follow the light remains free to go." The darker woman answered, as she was pulled away by Hercules. "Seek if you like, your majesty. Call out for those who wish to leave this place. Our priests are not warriors, as you yourself may recall. No one who follows the light is held here against their will."

Gabrielle turned her eyes from the woman and lifted her head to the empty fortress. "Let anyone who hears me, come to my call.  I am Gabrielle, queen of Amazons. I have been told this place is surrendered now to me. That being the case, those of you who came freely here, and any who did not, are surrendered to me, as well. Come forward. Those who do no harm will have no harm done to them. That is my will and my command. Come forward."

A few dozen scared and ragged women and men climbed out from behind the rubble that was the main contents of the ancient courtyard. A number of scrawny children followed them, staring at the newcomers with eyes almost bigger than their faces. Beggars, Ariella realized who thought that the so called priests here might have a crust to share with them. They're probably wondering now if we have anything to feed them with.

After these came, in groups of five and ten and twenty, Corinthian families a bit better dressed, clumping together and trying to hide their faces. Its almost as if my shielding suddenly stretched across the whole place. she considered, And everyone in it can see the emptiness and ruin that it is, the danger that is still to come.

"Its far safer if none of you stay here." Iphicles was bluntly advising these people. "There may or may not be trouble here as the day wears on. And if you need the king's aid, go to the kitchen gate at the palace and tell them I bid you come and rest and refresh yourselves. I am Iphicles of Corinth, and my guards know both my queens and I have kept the practice King Jason and his father before him started. There's no reason for anyone who hasn't freely made the choice to remain behind. Besides, the place looks ready to fall down around our ears. No shame attaches to those who were gulled by . . our opposition here. You just heard one of its own call it lord of illusions."

These civilian  denizens of the fortress seemed to need no more encouragement to leave the place. They streamed out through the gates which seemed to have fallen off their huge, corroded hinges. And behind them in quick order would have gone a troop of men garbed as soldiers, without the persuasive efforts of Jason and Xena. These were detained and their leader brought back before Gabrielle, by Hercules, Nebula, Morrigan and Xena, along with the robed man who had challenged their entry.

"Are we to understand you have no further wish to 'follow the light'?" the demigod asked, his eyes and voice glacial. "Because we could very easily arrange for you to follow it right down that big hole over there."

"Son of Zeus, forgive me for not recognizing you in a plain warrior's garb." The troop leader began. "Plainly, like the others you released, I was fooled by your enemy. I have no wish to be your enemy, Hercules. Who in his right mind would?"

"But you were willing enough to fight for the monster. You were willing enough to kill and maim my brother's troops. If it were up to me . . .But it isn't. What judgment do you make on these men, brother?"

"For the time being, it is this:" Iphicles responded. "One last time you will lead your troop. You will lead them to the wharf and tell the wharf master you have been ordered by the king to be taken to the prison in the harbor. If necessary to convince him, you will tell him Iphicles of king of Corinth says it is his judgment you be the first prisoners held there since the veterans were released. If you disobey my orders in the slightest, seeking to escape my judgment, I will turn you over to my brother, or perhaps simply call on his brother, Ares to judge you. Is that clear?"

The troop leader was by now shaking so hard, he could only nod his understanding. He turned and quick marched his men out of the fortress, looking almost eager be imprisoned. "It could have been worse." Iphicles told the others. "I could have told him to report straight to Philana, whose guards folk he killed and maimed. He wouldn't have lasted the hour, if she had my word to do what she saw fit."

This left the small cohort with the man who claimed to be the demon's priest, and the woman Meridian. Eight pairs of eyes turned back to them. Unlike all the rest, they seemed unnaturally calm. Nothing that had happened so far seemed to have disrupted their reality or their plans for the day. Ariella wondered how they could remain so tranquil, with no visible protection from their enemies.  But in an instant she understood, they were entranced, overshadowed  by the thing they worshipped. They gave no sign of shock or fright or worry, or any other normal emotions because the demon had none of those feelings. Hadn't the woman admitted enacting her own violent death simply to carry out the monster's plan for Gabrielle?

"We won't be able to shame or help, or even frighten these two." The priestess quickly moved to warn her companions. "That is, we won't be able to until the cord is cut. It binds them, as well."

"Okay, Ariella, I understand that." Hercules said. "I think. But if we question them, can we expect to learn anything truthful at all, much less helpful, such as do they have any more friends here or where the demon is holed up?"

"Perhaps." The priestess answered, and saw the disappointment in the demigod's face. "Let me try something that may help all of us with the rest of the day's work. Maybe this would be a good time for you all to take whatever ease you can. I don't think we'll be much longer."

 Ariella turned to the pair who claimed to be worshippers of the demon. Seeing that the woman sat as still as stone, entranced by something only she could see and hear. If her breath had not moved in her breast, she might have been cut

 from wood or stone. Ariella focused her attention on the robed male. "I've learned your companion's name is Meridian." She said. "What is yours?"

"Tyrus" said the man, pushing back the hood which the wind had lifted over his hair. He was scrawny under the robe, looking about as starved as the beggar children who ran out earlier. His hair was matted and unkempt, straggled with grey among copper strands. His features were craggy and his eyes deep set under a surprisingly strong brow. "I was born in Tyre, and so named."

Ariella listened to the man and studied his face. He couldn't seem to keep his gaze on her or anyone else in the group. He's overshadowed for certain. He listens to the demon and can hardly hear what anyone else says around him. she thought.

"Tyrus, do you understand we mean no harm to those who do us none?" she asked, wondering if his mind and comprehension still functioned, or were impaired by the demon's abuse.

"I understand that those who come here wish to follow the light. Do you wish to follow the light?" he asked, blinking at Ariella as if he'd only caught sight of her in this instant.

"Not as you understand it, no."

"Then you have no place here, infidel." The man laughed on a high pitched note. "Be gone. The one, the light will soon rid the world of its false gods! He has done so for many lands; he will do so here. It is only right and good. The one who now serves him most closely calls this land home and hates the gods of Greece. Wouldn't you say that was true, son of Zeus?" Again the man laughed hysterically, a sound of tortured giggling and Ariella thought her effort wasted, his wits were turned, for certain.

Hercules, Gabrielle, Xena, and Nebula came running to Ariella's side at that sound. Jason, Morrigan and Iphicles were not far behind them. All seven stared at the man they'd been mostly ignoring until this moment. The priestess couldn't understand why. He was nondescript, a nonentity, really. Until now, he'd actually said nothing to them.

"The man you speak of never truly hated anyone." Hercules replied, his features taut ."He had a quick temper that was just as fast to cool off. He railed at the gods from time to time, as do we all. Mostly he hated cruelty and injustice, but those are results, not people and not gods. No, Iolaus didn't hate the Olympians, Dahak."

Ariella stared at Hercules and then back at the scrawny priest. But now she saw a glamour fall away and a wiry, black robed, flaxen haired male form revealed. This was the being of her visions, and in another instant she knew he'd lift deep set, cerulean blue eyes to meet hers. By force of will and nothing else, Ariella held herself still and stood her ground. This was the demon they'd come to confront, to challenge and to destroy. This was what the Lady called her to do, weeks ago in a moonlit garden, years ago at her widowed father's home, and in this instant. Then Ariella felt the Lady wrap Her arms around her as She had so many times in ritual, and the priestess met the creature's eyes. She stood in the Goddess' embrace as did all those oath bound with her. Her fear was gone.

"It is not we, but you, demon, that does not belong here. Greece is and more to the point, Corinth is our home, not yours. No matter which of her children you torment and twist to your uses, they are not yours, either. My Lady, the Goddess Artemis, the Huntress, daughter of Leto and of Zeus, therefore bids you, BE GONE." Ariella knew very well the monster would not obey her, this was simply a way of focusing on the ritual that was yet to be enacted.

"I am to be gone, you say?  And who are you that, calling on one of your puny Olympians, bids me be anything or anywhere?" the demon demanded, smiling coldly.

"I am Ariella, priestess of Artemis, the Huntress. These others are known to you through the man you abuse. Iphicles, king of Corinth, Morrigan, druid of Justice,  Jason, former king of Corinth and captain of the Argo, Nebula, queen of Sumeria, Xena, warrior and protector, Hercules, son of Zeus, and Gabrielle, queen to Amazons. All but two of these were born and bred in this land you seek to conquer, and those two helped drive you from their own lands, you may recall."

"I have traveled widely of late. A handful of foolish spirits sought to defeat me. They failed, and they died. Their lands are ripe to fall into my hand. Just ask your son of Zeus, standing there behind you. Ask him how many lives and spirits both great and small he saved while running away from home. A hundred? A dozen? A half dozen?  Not even that many?" the monster shook his head and tsked like a schoolmaster. "Not even his best friend in all the world? And you bid me be gone? I warn you, little priestess of a surprisingly shy Goddess, I will not leave even Olympus itself standing when I am done with this cursed land. You will fail your purpose here and you also, will die."

"You do not and you cannot understand our purpose here, Dahak." Gabrielle now said sternly. Ariella nodded for her to go on, just as they'd rehearsed. " But I will try to explain it to you, anyway. We have come to release the man you abuse and give him the proper honors of one who has died. He was our beloved friend and ally. He is a hero to Corinth and will become in time a hero to all of Greece, as he died fighting your evil. He cannot be of much further use to you. Iolaus' death was months ago. You cannot keep his body falsely alive this way indefinitely. You are not the maker of the Universe,  who is called Zeus in our lands. I know, I was given the eyes to see him once, and as you well know, I have also seen you."

Once again the male entity laughed. Somehow, looking at it, Ariella could not think of calling it either man or human. There was no life in the deep blue eyes, and no expression except for a bland smile on its features. In fact, the demon's face wore the same bland expression as the dark haired woman's.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Seven **

"Gabrielle!" the demon greeted the Amazon queen, "You look devastating! I'd quite forgotten you somehow won the rank of that Amazon tribe's queen. That happened around the time our dear Xena died, I believe. Xena! How good to see you up and around again! That ambrosia is remarkable, don't you agree? Do you find yourself hungering for its taste again these days, warrior?"

 Ariella couldn't help noticing the movement when Hercules put a strong, staying hand on Xena's sword arm. The warrior woman took a deep breath and nodded assent to whatever it was the demigod whispered in her ear.. Her bright blue eyes sparked fire, though, until she'd taken another breath and seem to find some control.

"I'd rather be dead a thousand years than eat ambrosia again,  on the chance it could turn me into a thing like you, demon." Xena smiled tautly. 

"That can very likely be arranged!" The monster replied, seeming to lose its placidity in the face of her scorn.

"What?" Nebula now stepped forward. Her voice, her whole manner was more suggestive than any Ariella had ever seen as she approached the demon. The priestess knew she was blushing furiously; but at the same time she stood in awe of the Sumerian beauty's ability to enact something she felt none of. "No greeting after all these months for me, Twinkle toes?"

"My queen!" the demon laughed coldly. "When last we met you were running from my embraces. Have you come to enjoy them again, my Nebula, my fair maiden?"

"Sorry, neither." Nebula replied. "I've come as these others have, to secure for decent and proper rites and burial, the body of my beloved. You had no right to steal it, demon; just as you had no right to almost steal my sanity. I've got the latter back now, I'll take the former, thank you, very much."

"I doubt you'll want it very much, when I'm done with it." the monster grimaced. "As for proper rites, you've never done anything properly in your brief existence, queen of Sumer!  And as for your much vaunted sanity, well, I know what your courtiers thought about that, even if you don't. You weren't a very pretty picture, your majesty, believe me. But never mind. I'm not done with your lover yet so that's all beside the point. Where was I? Oh, yes, Gabrielle. Why did you come all the way out here?  Its so cold and lonely, and so horribly dank. Wouldn't you rather have met someplace cheerier?"

"At a  fire pit, like the one you came out of  in Britannia, was that what you had in mind?" Gabrielle asked. "Or were you thinking of that volcanic tunnel in Thessaly? No, if you don't mind I'll keep well away from such places. I know your pattern of lies, now. I know you want to trap me and trip me up with them; but I'm not here for myself and so you can't do that, now.

Because now I'm thinking about a man I met a few years ago. I'm thinking about how he befriended a scared, wide eyed girl just as it seemed the whole world would come to an end. I'm thinking of how he comforted her when another time she was lonelier than she'd ever been in her life. I'm thinking of how he had a heart big enough to take in a son of Zeus and a hundred other people besides. I'm thinking of how he knew loneliness and sorrow most of his childhood and youth, and never gave up on finding love and joy. I'm thinking of how he fought as many enemies, mortal and immortal as the rest of us here put together, and yet somehow stayed as innocent within as a child. I'm thinking about how he lived in and reverenced the wild, without words, without ritual.

 I'm thinking about how completely he loved life, and yet how he freely gave it up. Freely, to save another. I feel, with

great sadness from Nebula and Hercules when they speak of those few days, that our friend was full of love and a kind of contentment he rarely knew. Yet I can close my eyes and understand how he came to give  his life freely for hers, just as he would have done for Hercules, or for me, for Jason or for Xena, for Iphicles who he'd known for years, or for either Morrigan or Ariella, whom he never met. Its something I know you can't understand; because its the same reason we came out here today:  love. You've tried, I'm sure, just as our daughter tried to understand, but the emotion is alien to your natures. Iolaus loved us, and his love may be the only part of him that is still alive. We love him and therefore we will free him

from you, Dahak. He is not yours, anymore than I am."

"You will free him from my grasp." The demon responded. "I see. And just how is that to be done?  Are you going to cut him off of me like a wounded limb that can't be saved? Are you going to cut him out of me, like an arrow's head brushed with poison? Are you going to beat him out me with your staff, mighty Amazon queen? Or are you just going to talk him out of me, when I become so bored by the sound of your voice I can't stay awake any longer?"

Gabrielle eyed the monster, as Ariella watched her closely for signs of strain or weariness. But then her mouth quirked in a humorless grin.

"Talking Iolaus free of you?" she echoed. "Not a bad thought. Do you think it would work? Naw, that's too easy. That would be something I could have tried long ago, if I thought it was possible to just talk you out of our lives. But for now, I'm done talking with you." The bard turned away, and Ariella watched as she took a deep breath and walked towards the woman called Meridian.

"If you don't already know what we intend, demon, why should we tell you?" Xena now continued in place of her lover, as they'd agreed earlier. "Can't you read our minds? Can't you take yourself and us to someplace that suits you better? Can't you even keep those who claimed to follow you? I've dealt with many gods and I have to tell you, Dahak, you're next to nothing in comparison. Every person here, including the man you are abusing now for your needs, has succeeded one time or another, one place or another at stopping your plans for our world short. You are the one that keeps failing, not us. Oh, you've caused grief and fear, anger and loss and confusion; but those were skirmishes. You've never been able to hold enough of a force to wage a genuine all-out war. I've done both, so I know the difference, believe me. And we are here to wage war for our world and for our friend, Iolaus."

"Oh yes, you know the difference, warrior." The demon turned on her. "'You really know how to show a fellow a good time, don't you?' Isn't that what he said to you, when you first led him into danger and treachery? Your friend Iolaus? You have the nerve to call him that?  Do you remember how hard he fell in love with you, lonely as he was, ripe as an olive branch for the plucking? Do you remember how you mocked him behind his back? Do you remember how you tried to rip his life apart, and then came back, when all should have been healed, and tore at the wound again? Do you remember crushing your friend's heart long, long before it was pierced for my sacrifice?"

"I remember every wrong I've done in my life, demon." Xena replied, her head high, her features taut. "And I pay my own debts, without help from anyone else to see them or find out what their price is. Iolaus is my friend, in large part because he is something very contradictory in his own nature; an honest thief. He stopped stealing things when he was a youth. But he kept on stealing hearts, and he kept on being brutally honest when and as he saw the need. He recovered from the pain I inflicted on him and he called me on it, when he got the chance. We talked it out, and he forgave me. And from then on, as far as Iolaus was concerned, the debt I owed him was paid and he would hear no more about it. So, yes, I call Iolaus my friend and I'm fantastically proud he calls me his. Is that something you can even begin to understand? Is it?"

"No." The demon muttered. "I don't understand mortals. Why should I? They're not my peers, only my instrumentality.

No being I've encountered so far is my match; and I've been from Persia practically to the Artic.  You're all pathetic and essentially boring. If you don't serve a god or goddess, you serve some other master, even if that master is wealth or pleasure or longevity. You scramble and struggle to survive in order to serve one master or another all your puny lives. You are no more than a race of slaves, and the joke is, most of you don't know it! You have no power here or anywhere else. You are fortunate, if you can call it that, when you survive to two score and ten! Yet when I offer freedom and light and ease, even immortality you disdain, you scorn, you mock me and those who sought my gifts."

"Gifts?" Hercules finally spoke up, looking at Ariella with an apologetic smile, although she'd been expecting him to chime in somewhere. " Freedom and light and ease, is that what you've given Iolaus? Don't you know from taking over his body and mind that this is an appalling dishonor to him? Don't you know your unnatural existence, using him this way is anathema and shame to the warrior's path he walked?

 Or do you know? Yes, yes, I begin to think so. Iolaus is a mortal man, not a god or half god, as you well know; yet at least twice that I know of, he has stopped or stalled your plans.  You do know, and you are punishing my best friend now for daring to oppose you, and for daring to succeed! By the gods! I almost believed another one of your lies!  Iolaus never gave in to you, Dahak. His was never the heart you wanted, it's too open, too innocent for you. He's your natural enemy and he defeated you before he'd ever heard your name. Through him, you lost the chance to bar me from the world. By what trickery you've stolen his form now, I don't know; but it wasn't jealousy or dishonor of any kind.

It couldn't be.

What you don't know, and this surprises me, is that his bonds to us are not weapons in your hands, but shields in ours. His bonds to us are all we need to finally win. You've lost again, demon, because we come to face you bound more closely by respect and friendship, by loyalty and love for Iolaus and each other than any binding you could ever devise, and it is indestructible, it is immortal, that I promise. We've already defeated you here, as we did so many other times and places. And to accomplish that, all we had to do is follow Iolaus' example. We've won, demon and you've lost. Give up the game, give up our friend and go crawling home, if a horror like you can be said to have a home. Do it now."

Ariella nodded encouragement as Hercules folded his arms over his chest and waited. There was no patience in his eyes or in his manner, yet he waited. Every line of his powerful body spoke of how much he hated doing so, but he waited.

Goddess, Ariella breathed inwardly let it be so that Hercules truly understands he's now done all he can. We're almost done here, I think. Perhaps Jason or King Iphicles wants to have a go at the demon before . .


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Eight **

A shriek like a scalded animal's tore her thoughts and her attention away from the main group once more. Ariella turned and saw it was the woman Meridian screaming and flailing about with the short sword she'd earlier surrendered. None of the blank serenity she'd shown earlier remained in her face or manner. Lucidity was being stripped away too, although she still seemed to recognize Gabrielle, to some degree. The priestess signaled for the others to stay where they were, and went to join the bard.

The bard queen stood absolutely still, watching Meridian closely as Ariella hurried to her side. "I don't know what happened." Gabrielle told the priestess. "One minute she was sitting there without speaking, without moving, without any expression. The next minute she started rolling around on the ground and I thought she might be seizing. I remembered what you said the other day, Ariella, about needing to keep the mouth at least partly open when that happens to someone, so I tried to reach her to do that. I didn't know she had the sword. I thought it was on the other side of the courtyard."

"What happened is that her connection to the demon is gone. I could see the bond, before, and it's no longer there. But before that happened, you walked over to watch her, Gabrielle." Ariella asked "Why?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I hate leaving a thread hanging and she is one. I believed until today that I had deliberately killed her. I questioned, I doubted, sometimes she was part of the reason I hated myself, Ariella. And now I see her, perhaps as she always was:  another victim of that demon, only she's mad, instead of being dead."

"Dead." The dark haired, painfully thin woman echoed, sweeping the dangerous blade in circles and arcs around her body. "Dead.  Gabrielle thought that I was dead." She blinked at the priestess and the bard next to her and then opened her eyes very wide. "Do you think I'm dead, too?" she demanded of Ariella.

"No, no." The priestess assured her calmly. "It's very clear indeed that you're alive. But you . . may cause yourself harm, swinging that knife around. It may cut you, my dear."

"Dear.  Dear.  Dear.   Dear. " Meridian repeated mindlessly. "Yes, once it cut me, maybe, maybe, maybe not. Maybe. Do you think I will cut?" Her eyes were unfocused, her affect more and more confused. She whirled, holding the blade out at her arm's length, but couldn't quite seem to see those who watched her.

"No, Meridian. I think you're scared, very scared right now." Ariella insisted, seeing and hearing not a rational, full grown woman but a terrified, possibly maddened child. "I think the very pretty dream that you were playing with went away just now, so you're very scared. Is that what happened? Did you lose your pretty dream?"

"Dream.  Dream.   Dream.   Dream.   Dream." Meridian nodded her head. "No more dream. Who took away . . . . " she turned to look in the direction of the demon and then lay down on the ground, the blade in her outstretched hand, but loosely gripped. Sobbing, wailing and flailing at the ground; in another moment she'd flung the blade away from herself. "No more pretty dream." She sobbed. "No more."

"Maybe we can find you a better dream." Ariella told the madwoman, kneeling to push back her damp hair and tried to help her sit up. "Maybe we can, now."

"Maybe. May be. May Be" once again the girl echoed. She seemed weak as a new born and soon lay back on the ground, deeply asleep.

 Gabrielle stooped and picked up the short sword, But she almost dropped it, as she turned to look at Ariella. Swallowing hard, the Amazon queen shook her head, then closed her eyes and nodded assent. There could be no doubt what was to follow once she held this blade.

"Of course you know, Gabrielle." Ariella said to the bard, "Our work is almost done here today. The shields I formed must be failing because it still seems to be morning, when it must be afternoon or sunset by now. I must find the bond between you and the demon, and show you where to cut it, for all our sakes, and for Iolaus' as well. Can you do this?"

"I can. Yes, Ariella, with all of you to help me, I can and I will." Gabrielle replied softly "Nothing will stop me. But in your vision, the demon and I were alone. Does that mean Xena and the others can leave now and keep safe?"

"Well, I suppose they can, my dear; but I doubt they would leave at this point. And besides that, Gabrielle, remember what I said about taking visions or dreams literally?"

"You said that's not the way dreams and visions work. If dreams and visions made the same kind of sense as ordinary sights and speech, we'd have no place for imaginings, for legends, . . .  or for bard's tales. I'd be out of a job!" Gabrielle laughed nervously.

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Ariella did her best to comfort the bard, whose nerves she could almost feel jangling.

"Ariella," the bard said, touching her arm with one hand while the other gripped the hilt of the sword. "I guess I do have one more question then, and after all you've done and all everyone has tried to reassure me. . . .Do you have any insight on what will happen to me, once this bond is cut?  I will keep my oath. I just can't help wondering, especially after seeing what the bond, and its being cut did to her  You don't think . . You would have already warned me if you thought I would go mad myself, wouldn't you? Did that make any sense?"

"Absolute sense and the answer is easy, Gabrielle. No, you won't. This cord, this bond that connects you to the demon is one you didn't know was there, except for your child. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if you believed any and all connection you had to the monster died with her. Why should you think any such link survived the life that was formed within it?" Ariella asked and the bard nodded her understanding, so the priestess continued.

 "The positive side of that is I have reason to believe much of the pain and grief and doubt you still feel regarding that life, that child comes from the bond we will cut today. Iolaus will be released, and in a different way, Gabrielle, so will you. You said you were ready a little while ago. Shall we begin the rite?"

"Yes. Yes, lets begin." Gabrielle nodded, a bit numbly.

Together, the two women walked back to their companions, some of whom were still engaging the demon in scornful conversation, while others simply waited to find out what to do next.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part Nine **

"I need you to stay, not go." Gabrielle told them quietly, at once. Ariella saw a relieved expression run around the small circle of faces, not exactly a smile and not a sigh. "It expects me to come at it alone, I think. But we all know better than that. I'm wondering how far I can . . .deceive the deceiver, though. Let me explain."

"I think I can distract the demon for you, Gabrielle." Ariella suggested. "While I check on the purpose of our rite."

"Ariella," Jason said to her, cracking a half grin and looking and sounding much like her father on his most recent visit from Thebes. "be careful when playing with fire."

"Indeed I will, your majesty, thank you." the priestess bowed her head politely to the former king. It seemed the proper gesture to make, and it made him smile charmingly.

"He's right you know." the monster told Ariella as she approached him again. "I'm quite the dangerous fellow, to those who have no respect for their betters."

"But respect for my betters is something I've had drilled into me since I was old enough to understand the words. It was only when I became an adult that I realized not everyone who claimed to be my better was, better than me, I mean. I'd say this was a perfect case in point. You seem to think you're better than us mortals, better than other immortals and better even than our gods. Why is that? Because you can hurt us? Because you can assault us and destroy our homes? Because you can rape our women and force your monstrous seed into them? Because you can sometimes deceive us? Because you can kill us? Or is it because you have done all these things just to keep a foothold in our world? That is what makes you my better?"

Ariella shook her head "No, I don't think so. King Jason, as I still think of him, because he was king of Corinth and of Argos while I was growing up, is definitely my better. He is because he was born to royalty, and never trades on that fact. He is because he's fought all his life to guard his cities and protect their peoples. He is because he feels for everyone so deeply his generosity and kindness is known throughout Greece, just as widely as his heroism. He is because he could have let the sadness and horror that entered his life long ago destroy his core being, and he didn't, despite the pain it still causes him sometimes. Does that clarify the difference for you?"

"It clarifies your foolishness." The monster responded,  "You are an absolutely provincial, painfully timid, and ridiculously prudish unwed woman, with a fascination for Corinth's local heroes. You have no experience of and no understanding of mortal or immortal male beings, except for your father, who apparently sold you to Artemis for a hill of beans when you were not yet of child bearing years. You are, I believe, afraid of men and would not be here today if your supposed goddess hadn't promised to keep you safe and inviolate in the presence of these pathetic males, and myself. Well, your Lady shouldn't make promises she can't keep!"

Ariella knew if she had any sense at all she would be very afraid of this male entity right now. She could feel the practical, wary part of her mind getting her body ready to back off, to back away, to run to her new friends, if it seemed necessary. But another element within her was laughter rising in her throat. It was warm, vivid and deep, and not wholly her own, but also the Goddess laughing delightedly in the back of her mind.

"She doesn't." the priestess told the demon, biting back a wide smile. "I can assure you of that. And you may believe me that while with most of Corinth I honor our heroes, I am no more fascinated with them than anyone else in the city. I am not afraid of men. I am trained not to initiate contact with them. But again, that is part of something you do not understand about my Goddess, and something my oaths do not allow me to explain. Lastly though, if you feel you must put this on a personal level with me I will tell you that the reason I've very little experience as you put it, with mortal or immortal males is a matter of my preference. Is that quite clear enough for you, demon, or need I draw pictures on the ground for your understanding?"

The monster seemed to study Ariella for a moment as if she was the stranger of the two of them. It was an expression part curiosity, part revulsion that the priestess had sometimes seen on the faces of students or patients who came to Corinth from the deep hinterlands. There, where rumor had it female babies were still exposed at birth, rather than take food and shelter from males, it was also rarely heard of that women should prefer the company of women to that of men.

The demon began to laugh and curse at once, using language Ariella had also heard before, mostly from foreigners brought to the temple's infirmary in need of a midwife or other healing. Within the known world, as far as she knew, such fearful and unlearned reactions could be expected of those the Greeks called "barbarians". Such attitudes were not  important enough to warrant an educated or cultured person's notice.

How can this world traveling demon stand here calling me 'provincial'? she wondered  If I could take my focus away from what needs doing, I'd laugh in its face! But I can't right now, its plain that would be a rather dangerous tactic to take.

Ariella ignored the demon for a moment, focusing instead on the connection she sensed, the life cord her inward sight revealed, between Gabrielle and the monster. It was an ugly sight at best, she considered, formed in pain and rage, maintained by horror, guilt, and grief. Where some connections between the parents of a child shone like silk, or clung like cobwebs, this one clutched at both Gabrielle and the demon with claws that seemed to run its whole length, catching any other spirit that came near. And so, for the first time, Ariella saw how the brave spirit of a man she'd never met in the flesh was caught in this same life bond. Only her training kept the priestess from weeping and laughing all at once at the unmistakable difference between the monster and the hero.

Iolaus! Ariella's mind called out to the shuddering, shimmering spirit she saw. Iolaus,  I am a priestess of the Huntress you follow. Can you hear me?

She got no response. As happened with Meridian, and with the priest-form the demon held earlier, the hero's spirit gave no sign of hearing or realizing her presence.

Iolaus, that I can see you at all now, shows me how bravely  you have fought the demon so far. Artemis sent me to your aid, along with your cherished friends. With the Goddess' aid we will free you. My oath on it. Can you understand me?

Still there was no sign from him. But Ariella understood. The demon held Iolaus and his faculties in an iron grip right now.

Iolaus, I know you may think what little you can perceive here is another lie from the demon, another damned illusion to keep you in its grip. I am going to do something that I think may encourage you to think otherwise, and perhaps it will discourage our enemy a bit as well. You will recognize the sign the Lady bids me send you, Iolaus the hunter. But the monster will only recognize something it cannot begin to comprehend. When you see the Lady's sign, Iolaus, try your best to nod your head, will you?

Ariella called on her lifetime's training and on her Goddess now. She had to do two things at once and this was the only means by which it would be possible. She had to keep an external watch on the monster, lest it harm those in her charge. She needed to make this contact with Iolaus' spirit; giving him an unmistakable signal that the Huntress he honored was truly here in his cause.

"Lady, I know and I feel your presence." Ariella called aloud. " The visions You gave me are all come to pass here. I call on You now to reveal Yourself and Your power to these who come as friend and foe. Artemis, Huntress of the Moon-Bow, Your priestess calls on You. Artemis, Goddess of the Wild, Your Queen and Your Hunter are here, waiting Your sign. The rite has begun by which they will both be freed of the demon. This was the task You set me, and thus it will become. Outos geneisetai."

"Outos geneisetai." Gabrielle echoed, standing now behind the priestess.

Ou . .tos . . . genei..setai another voice murmured within Ariella's mind, and she rejoiced. This was a voice she'd never heard before, hesitant and strained, yet, warm, clear and full of longing. This was Iolaus' spirit reaching to her own and the bard's and Ariella exulted, amazed at his achievement.  A bond sprang up between their spirits and held like three arms clasped in greeting. Ariella felt, more than she saw Gabrielle's spirit form move to embrace her beloved friend's. Their closeness was something no priestess or demon could either create or destroy.

Outos geneisetai! yet another voice, well known and beloved by the priestess responded, the voice of her Goddess.

"Arkou 'da  asi' mi, Artemis, Exupnisei!  Great Bear Goddess of the Silver Moon, Artemis, awaken!" Ariella invoked, as joy and weeping, fear and valor, rage and exulting swept through her. An inward tide pulled her, and from years of practice, the priestess knew better than to swim against it. She was carried and lifted as if by flood tide onto a river bank in the wild, or a storm's high tide curving and crashing to the top of sea carved cliffs. She was drawn, as if  by the rush of an eager audience to the highest seats in an amphitheater, furthest from the stage, yet where the voices were best heard.

I am here, my daughter. Open your sight to Me. the Goddess' voice called. I am here, my queen. Open your sight to Me.  I am here, my hunter. Open your sight to Me.

As in her vision, as if she watched a play, Ariella saw what happened next, and wondered if she would be the only one who believed what they had seen, afterwards:  A shining silvered form rose into the evening air, stretching and shaking itself very much like a bear, awakening to feed after a season's slumber. It stood taller than the highest turret of Corinth's royal palace, and wider than the great gates that sheltered her man made harbor during storms. It was a shifting form, though, sometimes an immense She bear, growling, stomping and clawing, then a giant  female form, draped with the entire skin of a great bear, its head a helmet, its hide a wondrous, terrible gown of claws and fur, then an fusion of both, with the crescent Moon-Bow shining in Her hands and on Her brow, and pulling Her features into a fierce grimace.

Ariella felt, more than she saw Gabrielle nod in signal that she saw the Bear aspect of Artemis appear above and around them. The priestess' focus was on Iolaus' spirit, and with huge relief, she saw him nod albeit slowly and weakly. Caught as he was, his strength was being drained by the instant. Nodding to both of them, Ariella turned her outer gaze again to the demon. Just as its enemies had planned and hoped, more than anything else, the monster was looking perplexed.

"I was led to believe that the Greeks had evolved beyond the mere animism of their ancestors." The demon said, its gaze

fixed on the Goddess towering above them all. "Is this what you worship as a Goddess? I am amazed, truly, amazed. Is this the power you bring against me, little priestess?  I can't say I'm very impressed."

"Another lie, Dahak?" Gabrielle asked, approaching the demon now with the short sword in her grasp. "How will anyone believe anything you say, if so much of it is lies? You are fearfully impressed by power we worship and serve. You are afraid of the Greek gods or you would not have taken such a round about path to combat them. But then I was taught that not to fear the gods at all at any time is a kind of madness, we call it hubris. I'm not surprised to know you suffer from that madness, demon. Well then, what I do here will release you, as well."

"Dare you approach me, little one?" the monster demanded, showing signs of anger, stepping out of her way as she defended herself with the sword. "Dare you come within my grasp again and scorn me? You finally succeeded in killing our child, and her child as well. Does that make you think you can take my life?"

"Our child?" Gabrielle spat at the demon. "My daughter is dead because your plans didn't include her having anything like a natural, human life. My daughter, who was conceived when you raped me? Do you think I'd forgotten that? I remember every instant of the torture, the pain and fear and guilt you inflicted on me. I remember being helpless in your grip while you 'entered the world' through me and my child. I remember thinking, twice, that ending my life might be better than going on when every day I grew further from who I was and who I wanted to be. I remember doing and saying things I will regret till the day I am dead, because you needed my daughter as your entry to this world. But here I stand, alive and well, seeing that you turned your evil and your lies against my dearest friends as well. That I will not accept, monster. That I will not allow. Enough is more than enough. This will be as far as you go. Can you, do you understand that?"

"I understand that you now imagine you and your ineffectual goddess can stop the one, the true darkness that lies hidden within the brightest light." The demon mocked. " Gabrielle, I have given you the understanding you now have of that kind of darkness. It may have been a hard lesson to learn; but it was one you sorely needed. Your world is no less dark than mine, the real difference is in how much the denizens of your world seek to deny that darkness in it and in themselves. What a waste of time and energy! Without one the other cannot exist. Surely from me and our child you have learned that much!"

Gabrielle shook her head as if hearing a fools' meanderings.

"I learned about the balance of light and dark that the world carries in itself and that each of us carries in ourselves from my beloved, not from you. I learned that both are needed in equal measure, not one overpowering the other, whether it is darkness or light. And the person who taught me that, and so much more, is the one you would have had my daughter destroy. Failing that, as you did, you frozen hearted monster, you wanted me to hate the one who lives in the core of my heart, you wanted me to kill her, as my child killed her child. And may you be damned forever, you almost succeeded. But thank the gods, once more you failed. Xena lives, demon, and by my heart, she always will!

My daughter, Hope, is dead because she couldn't escape your darkness, even if she'd had time to try. And her child,  was as much a monster as you, soaked in blood and so maddened by it that it couldn't tell its own mother apart from me. You never intended either one of them to live longer than they could serve your purpose; so don't lie again and tell me you cared for them as anything resembling a parent or grandparent would."

"Parent or grandparent?" the monster echoed. "How many generations of your family do you know, little bard?  Your ancestors were still in the trees and caves of Thrace when I came to be! Your sister's children's, children's children and more, will serve me, time out of mind! And they won't know that you ever existed, do you hear me, Gabrielle? Not a trace will be left of you and yours, little queen! Doesn't that knowledge cut you like a knife to the heart?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Part Ten **

"No, no, it can't . . hurt . . .her." another voice replied, slowly, fighting for each word ."Because. . . . you . . . .lie."

The demon roared and revealed a startling succession of distorted forms and faces within a few moments. But the two women confronting it beside the spirit of their ally gave no reaction. The demon whirled and twisted itself into other shapes and states, but even though Ariella could see some of these pained the two she fought alongside, neither one pulled back. The monster contorted and struggled now, and the priestess began to understand what was happening. It was losing control of the situation it had maintained for months, unable to keep Iolaus' spirit in its grasp while sparring with the bard queen.

 Ariella gestured for Gabrielle to keep her focus on the demon, and somehow the bard managed her task. As in her vision, they danced a kind of ritual dance, always separated by the deadly length of a sword. As in her vision, Gabrielle's eyes glinted green, with unshed tears. But she showed no fear. What she had come here to do, she would do, no matter what the consequences. Her courage stunned the priestess, no more than that shown by Iolaus' spirit.

"Iolaus," the priestess said aloud to the hunter's spirit form. "Can you hear me now? Can you?"

Iolaus nodded, blinking at her as if he were waking from a dream. "A nightmare, you mean.  What . . . do . .we  . . . . .now?"

"What do you want done, Iolaus? I've told Gabrielle that you're the only one who can answer that question, and its true.

As I was shown, this all comes down to you and her. Ultimately, it comes down to you. You've suffered greatly, and blamelessly. What do you want from the Goddess, from us as Her instruments?"

"Just want, this to end. Too long, now. Too long. Please help. Please.." Iolaus' spirit form knelt, but instead of bowing his head like a victim or prisoner might, he lifted his face to the sky, and laid his flaxen head back on his shoulders. His strong neck and chest were now fully exposed, as she was trained a willing sacrifice must be.

"My friend, who I never met, we will. Gabrielle, leave the monster to its devices. The work is at hand. The time is now."

Ariella looked inward again and clearly saw the cord, saw where it was weakest and pointed out the place to the Amazon queen. She saw a quick, taut smile cross Gabrielle's lips and disappear. Lifting the sword above her head, the bard brought it down again, with all her strength.

"Outos geneisetai!" she called out, and then said softly. "Iolaus, I loved you."

"Outos geneisetai!" Ariella responded, whispering, feeling herself and her perspective return to normal.

"Outos geneisetai" Iolaus' spirit's voice echoed and his form fell to the ground, curling around itself like a newborn.

Gabrielle knelt, staring at the insubstantial form, sobbing and reaching out to him, keening and cutting her red gold hair in the ancient sign of mourning. Ariella felt her own face wet with tears, unsure if they were for grief or joy or exhaustion. But neither woman spoke until the priestess suddenly shook the bard's shoulder and pointed to where the sword stood in the ground, point buried deep. The worn and frightful looking life bond was gone from both Gabrielle and Iolaus' spirit. It slithered as if a living entity itself twisting and turning around the demon, pulling on it, dragging it across the courtyard. Up the crumbling stairs to the sea ward side, the cord tugged the monster, which struggled and screamed, but could not escape it somehow. It seemed to Ariella that the more the demon cursed and threatened and flailed and twisted, the more entangled it became. Stranger still, the further it was pulled from them, the less it resembled the man it had abused.

Now Ariella and the bard were joined by Hercules, Nebula, and Xena who'd been at work around the fortress gates. They were followed by Iphicles, Morrigan  and Jason, who'd made a great show of giving up and leaving earlier. All of them watched as the demon they'd sought here, having caused so much pain and sorrow, was helplessly towed to where wind and sea had torn away the seaward turret. The demon twisted and screamed, flailed and tore at its bonds, to no avail. It seemed almost to be caught in a web or net formed by the twining, twisting bond and Ariella laughed aloud, bringing her seven pairs of astonished eyes.

"One of the Lady's aspects is named Britomartis, and originated on Crete." She offered in explanation. "She was worshipped as a patroness of fishermen and sailors. But an older story tells of a sea nymph by that name pursued by Zeus, who in escaping the Olympian dived into the sea. The nymph did not die, though, because the fisher's nets caught her safely and the god knew himself defeated. From then on She filled the nets of any who set them under the cliffs she'd dived from. What we see is the demon's own bonds being used against it. And I suspect my Lady's aid in this. The monster may not have feared her before, but it does now! Yet it is the demon's own device which binds and pulls it. O wisest of Ladies, you turn the monster's own tools on it, even as You said! "

A crazed scream came from the seaward height of the fortress. A form that bore no resemblance to any living being briefly flashed with flame, only to be doused with sea spray from the gathering storm tide beyond the sea wall. It was grey and worn and wavering atop the fortress a moment further, when a high wind rose land wards that threw it off kilter. It was neither frightening nor pitiful, Ariella considered, but only outlandish and bizarre. Finally a great wave pulled at the topmost part of the fortress, and the monster was gone, leaving hardly a trace behind.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part Eleven **

Except she quickly thought of the man they'd come to aid. Seven pairs of eyes turned with hers to where Gabrielle still knelt, within Xena's comforting embrace. Hercules was already bending down towards them and the priestess heard him, or perhaps his brother, gasp. Nebula went to her knees as well, bowing low and sitting back again and again, sobbing openly as Ariella had not heard her do, till now. Morrigan laid one hand on the dark queen's shoulder in a comforting gesture, and amazingly, the Sumerian did not shake it off. Jason was beside Hercules now and Iphicles still stood, amazed.

They encircled the place Ariella had last seen the spirit form of Iolaus. Looking over Nebula's shoulder, she realized why they were all shocked. On the ground, covered by nothing against the raw sea wind, was the form of a man, fully human and fully substantial, no shade or spirit.  It was the body of Iolaus, son of Thebes and of Corinth, hero companion of Hercules and Jason, beloved of Nebula, and many others, friend of Iphicles, Xena and Gabrielle. Only Morrigan and Ariella did not know the man while he lived, but that was no bar to fighting for or honoring him. This body though, seemed only to have died a few moments, not months before.  Ariella felt her throat constricting with tears that these new friends should once more have to mourn his death. Quickly and as gently as they would an ailing child, his friends found decent covering for the still form. And the priestess, looking around, saw that despite their courage, there remained not a dry eye among them.

Lady, Ariella called out within her mind to the Goddess. Great Huntress, these two who are Yours are freed from the demon, by their own bravery and Your hand. Gabrielle can begin to find the peace she lost at its hands. But Your hunter, Goddess, I have learned so much about him while we made ready for this battle. He wished an end, he said. I know. Only, I don't remember him saying he wished for death. Can there be another way? So many besides these  who came to Your call love and need the man they know. So much might remain.  Goddess, I  know better than to argue with the gods' will. I only ask if his death is their will.

Daughter, you are brave indeed. the Goddess voice came to her inner ear again. And far more have been set free by your courage here than these two. Truly you have all won a great battle for Greece and in the cause of the gods. But the ending of a life, any life, is in the Fates' hands. Shall I challenge them? Or would you care to?

"Ariella," the priestess heard Alcmene's son urgently calling her name. "Ariella, answer me, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Hercules. Why do you ask?" the priestess looked up into the demigod's face.

"Well, you were . . gone for a few minutes. I supposed you were talking to my half sister. But then you turned as pale as a shade. I sensed one of the Olympians was here earlier, that was Artemis?  Is she still here, cos I'd love to have a few words, in private."

"Why in private, younger brother?  Have you some secret from these brave friends?" Artemis responded, smiling at the demigod as she appeared in a flash of silver light. Her hair was bound up, dark and gleaming all at once. Her chiton was alight with bronze and fur and feathers. Her boots were layered, soft and quiet, meant for forest paths, not city ways.

"No, I don't. But I can't help wondering if the gods do, as usual. Except for yourself they've been precious little help in this fight, sister.  And the end result, as far I can tell, for Iolaus, is the same. And frankly, that doesn't sit right with me, or with the rest of us .I think something's still out of kilter, out of balance, somehow. I don't know for certain what. I don't pretend to understand everything that went on here today: that's not my line of work.

 What I know is that Iolaus gave his life fighting the thing we finally got rid of tonight. What I know is he spent his life fighting that kind of evil and cruelty. What I know is what a debt of gratitude and loyalty and honor is owed to him, by mortals and immortals alike from Sumeria to the Norse lands and back again. And what I know is if I had the chance he once had when I was in trouble, I would be more than happy to say:  if you must take his life, then take mine too, because I am Iolaus."

"And I am Iolaus!" Nebula called out, choking back her sobs, her eyes ablaze.

"And I'm Iolaus!" Jason echoed, holding his head high as he recalled the incident Hercules invoked.

"And I am Iolaus!" Morrigan intoned, lifting her bright head in the fading light.

"And I am Iolaus!" Iphicles added, exchanging glances with his younger brother, his dark eyes sad and proud.

"And I am Iolaus!" Xena responded, her eyes shining and sorrowful.

"And I am Iolaus!" Gabrielle lifted her head in as regal a manner as Ariella had ever seen.

"And I am Iolaus!" Ariella added her voice to the others, with a tiny smile, wondering if her senior priestess would have understood this.

"Well, that's quite a declaration." Artemis replied." You all feel that way? And am I given to understand there are many others who would if they had the chance? Hades wouldn't like that one bit, I'm sure. Can I take that under advisement for a moment?"

Hercules nodded, looked around at the others, and answered for them. "A moment or two."

The Huntress flashed out of sight in a burst of silvered light, then returned the same way almost before Ariella could draw a breath.

"Well its decided. You all declare you wish to share the same fate as Iolaus. So you shall, well, not identically the same, of course. Some of you have yet more to accomplish. Some are surprisingly far along their chosen paths. And some never cease to amaze me with their boldness. Hercules, what would you have said or done if the answer was no? Or should I

say, how did you guess it wouldn't be no?"

Hercules half smiled and patted Ariella on the shoulder. "I was pretty sure I had an inside track. My newest friend here has friends in high places, very high places. I guess if you . . . if they'd said no, I could have stormed Olympus, or Ellysia, the gods know I've done that before. And if that didn't work, well, it would have been a few months late but we would have had what Morrigan calls a wake. . . .for Iolaus, a big party celebrating him instead of mourning him."

"And now?" Artemis smiled at her half brother as brightly as the crescent moon.

"As soon as possible, we'll have a big party, celebrating Iolaus instead of mourning him." Hercules answered. "You're welcome to attend, of course."

"Hey!" a clear, somewhat weakened voice called out, getting everyone's attention. It came from a man just barely managing to sit up from the ground, wrapping himself in a horse blanket and saddle furs loaned by a certain golden mare's rider. Actually he only sat up with the help of that dark haired rider and her Amazon companion.

"I'll be glad to attend that party, brother. Farewell for now." Artemis said softly and was gone in another silvered flash of light.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?" the flaxen haired man being helped to sit up called out.

"Hay is for horses, Iolaus." Jason cracked. "What do you think we're forgetting?"

"Somebody said something about a party celebrating me? I heard it, clear as . . .clear. So, just when my friends are you going to get around to inviting the guest of honor?" Iolaus demanded.

"That was only going to happen if you'd died, Iolaus." Iphicles laughed.

"Ah, well, no worries then. I'm going to live to be a hundred, right Herc?" The hunter laughed.

Hercules let go a deep breath. "At the very least, my friend." he nodded, grinning ."Or maybe I'll just ask the gods to make you immortal."

                                                     Finis? 3/4/99 3:50 am

Iolaos athanatos esti! Zei!    Taynella kallinika,  Kair anax Herakles! Autos te kai Iolaos aikmayta  duo!


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